The old maxim when pointing out failed Marxism attempts is the wan excuse that “True Socialism has not been tried yet!” Somehow, over the generations, every attempt at implementing Socialist/Marxist/Communist policy managed to get it wrong. In those cases where countries retain this leadership for decades (we are looking at you, Cuba), they never make the adjustments to “proper” socialism to fix things, remaining in their economic quagmire.
Yet we still get these insistent attempts at foisting this doomed leadership on a populace, because those were incorrect applications, according to the studied eggheads promoting the political system, while comfortably ensconced in capitalist countries. It seems revealing that these experts never make the trek to these nations to fix the problem, despite professing to have all the answers, like they will translate the cartoon instructions on an IKEA bookshelf that is listing like the Living Room Library of Pisa.
And this brings us to The Stale Apple, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced his plan to fulfill his campaign promise to open a collection of city-run grocery stores. This alone is a surprise, after he tossed aside his other pledged Utopian solutions, like the mobile homeless shelters – wait, sorry: “Free public transportation”.
This pie-in-the-sky (but not on the shelves) idea is meant to supply city denizens with affordable and plentiful grocery items, all under the benevolent supply of the city government. Already you see the issue when applying the professionalism and efficiency of the DMV offices to the food supply, but Mamdani came out Sunday to boast about his achievements after 100 days in office, and he announced his plan for the NYC grocery project.
“When corporations control every part of the food supply chain, prices go up, wages stay flat, and workers and customers both lose. That is why we are advancing a public option -- one rooted in the belief that our city can and must intervene where the market has failed.”
Do not start drawing up your hopping lists just yet. The first proposed shop is not set to open until sometime in 2027. His fifth store is not tabbed to go live until 2029. If this enterprise is beginning to sound like a dairy debacle on par with California Governor Gavin Newsom’s bullet train to nowhere, that is for good reason.
Mamdani does not address the first problem with supplying his residents with food shopping options: The dearth of actual grocery stores in the city. This is primarily due to restrictive zoning laws. Most locations in the city that provide the proper footprint for an adequate store are off-limits to construction. It is hard to blame corporations for controlling the food supply chain when you are preventing them from supplying anything.
But Mamdani is going to solve this issue, like Boss Bodega. In February, he announced his plan to open five stores, one in each borough, with a $70 million budget. Already, you get the sense of a crackpot scheme, funded with disposable taxpayer dollars. And in short order, this gets worse. On Sunday, less than two months from that announcement, he declared the opening of the first location was going to cost $30 million. The first turnip has not even been delivered, and already his scheme has doubled the per-location budget.
And this cannot be blamed on the high real estate costs. His proposed location for the first store is in East Harlem, at a property already owned by the city. Compare this to those corporate stores Zohran was demonizing, which operate with existing economies of scale to be more efficient. Most major chain stores open at a fraction of the cost, and often with a larger square footage. Aldi alone would be able to open multiple locations for the cost of Mamdani’s pilot enterprise.
Mamdani is spending $30M to open a ~9K sq ft grocery store
— Random Walk (@MosesSternstein) April 15, 2026
that's the cost of
--5 Aldis, for only 10% of the grocery
or
--1 Kroger that's ~12X larger
At ~$3,333/sqft, Mamdani's grocery will be the most "luxurious" grocery by a factor of 10! https://t.co/DPDk8QSNKY pic.twitter.com/ic2uj0yagi
But this is the application of common sense and basic economics, which makes me hateful and possibly socialist-phobic. So how about I extend my intolerance and also apply some history? I am not dredging up any communist noir dreams involving surly babushka maidens standing in desultory breadlines, where the main source of protein supplied is from canned kippers. We have contemporary domestic examples of this produce pipe dream.
In Erie Kansas, they attempted to have the city take over a closing store, and the results were dismal. In one year, the store managed to turn a profit for one month out of the twelve. One of the store managers was surprised at the closure, even as they detailed noticeably bare shelves and explained the store had not seen a truck delivery for three months. In the rural town of Baldwin, Florida, the city-operated grocery store met a similar fate, with talk of the town becoming a food desert.
But Mamdani is going to bring the goods, namely the groceries. Supposing the doors do manage to open, the effect will not be grand. Initially, they will seem fine, as not only is the land free, but the city-owned location will not pay rent. This will give an advantage over the current suppliers of produce and other goods, the small family-owned shops.
So even if Zohran’s dream store remains open for a year or so, that will probably be sufficient to sink the bodegas in the area. Then, when the store ultimately tanks, what will residents have as an option? The only solution will be a too-important-to-fail scenario, and more tax dollars will be doled out to keep the “affordable” operation open.
This is his solution, which has doubled in price in a matter of weeks, in a city already operating at a deficit. What we can expect is plenty of excuse-making and blame tossed around. We will enjoy hearing how “true city-run grocery stores have not been tried”, all while national chains thrive and deliver swollen shelves at a much lower cost.
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