Mamdani’s government-run grocery stores will fail ‘like every socialist experiment’: economist

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced plans to open the city’s first government-run supermarket in East Harlem next year, a move critics warn could cost taxpayers millions and undercut nearby private grocers.

Mamdani vowed during an address celebrating his first 100 days in office Sunday that the city will have five government-run grocery stores by the end of his first term on Jan. 1, 2030, falling in line with promises made during his campaign.

“I was elected as a Democratic socialist, and I will govern as a Democratic socialist,” Mamdani said.

But Daniel Di Martino, a Venezuelan-born fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said Mamdani’s plans for government-run grocery stores will fail “like every other socialist experiment” does.

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“The city is going to spend a very large amount of money, and they are not going to cater to the needs of the local consumers, because they have no profit incentive,” Di Martino said. “Why does the grocery store have the items you want? Because they can make money from things you want. The government grocery store does not care about what you want because they don’t care about profits.”

In February, Mamdani pushed for $70 million in funding for the Economic Development Corporation to select sites and build five city-run grocery stores — one in each borough. Construction costs for the city’s first government grocery store at La Marqueta are estimated at $30 million — half of the project’s proposed budget.

“Mamdani says the city is not going to have to pay rent because the place is already owned by the city,” Di Martino said. “But there is a cost. It’s called an opportunity cost. The city could have rented or sold that location to a private actor, and instead we’re going to miss that revenue.”

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Di Martino noted that within a mile radius of La Marqueta, there is an Aldi and a Costco Wholesale. In addition, there are at least three other grocery stores located within a mile of the proposed grocery store’s location.

“If they actually open, they’re going to take business away from private businesses,” Di Martino said. “So the real cost to the city is going to be even higher.”

While government-run grocery stores are new to New York City, they’ve been introduced in other cities such as Atlanta, which opened in September 2025.

But months earlier, a city-run grocery store in Kansas City folded. The store first opened in 2018 but closed after struggling to keep food on shelves amid crime, according to NPR.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment but did not receive a response.