{"id":630958,"date":"2026-07-06T17:39:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T17:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=630958"},"modified":"2026-07-06T17:39:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T17:39:42","slug":"business-owners-arent-buying-mamdanis-government-run-grocery-pitch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=630958","title":{"rendered":"Business owners aren\u2019t buying Mamdani\u2019s government-run grocery pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gotham\u2019s plans for socialist stores reportedly have bodega owners on edge, especially after a City Hall meeting included \u201cintrusive\u201d questions.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 and that\u2019s why there is distrust.\u201d<\/p>\n

A budget bust deferring pension payments, fleeing billionaires and a state bailout haven\u2019t swayed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) from plowing ahead with his hammer and sickle-style plans at a delusional utopia. Along with rent freezes and childcare, Hizzoner\u2019s hopes for government-run grocery stores have left competitors understandably \u201cput off\u201d by prying questions about their \u201cprofits and margins.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a report<\/a> from the New York Post<\/em>,\u00a0Julie Su, deputy mayor for economic justice, invited bodega owners to City Hall for a roundtable discussion where, according to a source who spoke with the newspaper, they were \u201cbarraged with \u2018intrusive\u2019 questions about their businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted us to share proprietary information with them but they don\u2019t answer our questions and that\u2019s why there is distrust,\u201d explained one of the representatives for the city\u2019s 13,000 bodegas who attended. Prior to the meeting, a questionnaire was distributed, prying for details about, \u201cWhat items are sold the most at your stores?\u201d \u201cWhere is your profit margin the greatest?\u201d and more.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Mamdani moved ahead with plans to open the first of a number of government-run grocery stores in East Harlem\u2019s La Marqueta, expected to cost taxpayers about $30 million<\/a> despite operating rent- and tax-free. Meanwhile, as the industry already operates with bare minimum profit margins, owners couldn\u2019t help but feel the city\u2019s prying for input and claimed intentions against competing were little more than an afterthought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be put off if my local government asked me questions about my profits and margins,\u201d an anonymous food policy expert who reportedly does business with the city told the Post<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s none of their business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former New York City Department of Health official turned executive director of the nonprofit Meals for Good, Cathy Nonas, contended the city intends to forego adding deli counters at the government-run stores \u201cto make sure that those who have served the community are still thriving after the public markets open.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her own statement to the outlet, Su argued,\u00a0\u201cWe met with bodega owners so they could help us plan and ensure that we take into account their challenges and their role as a part of the food ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the questions we wanted to understand is whether there are key products bodegas sell and rely on that we should not sell. That\u2019s how serious we are about not undercutting them,\u201d she added, suggesting the government-run businesses would actually direct customers to the bodegas.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s office also issued a statement, telling the Post<\/em>, \u201cDecisions on the exact types of food products offered will vary by store and have not been finalized at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0bodega owners said the city asked them not to share details of the meeting with the NYC Groceries Interagency Taskforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand why this group would be skeptical that anyone cares about them, because the bodegas have never had a city [administration] that has been particularly concerned with their needs and problems,\u201d stated Nonas. \u201cThey are often the one market that exists in a poor area until it\u2019s gentrified, and then all of a sudden their rent goes up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gotham\u2019s plans for socialist stores reportedly have bodega owners on edge, especially after a City Hall meeting included \u201cintrusive\u201d questions. \u201c\u2026 and that\u2019s why there is distrust.\u201d A budget bust deferring pension payments, fleeing billionaires and a state bailout haven\u2019t swayed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) from plowing ahead with his hammer and… Continue reading Business owners aren\u2019t buying Mamdani\u2019s government-run grocery pitch<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":630948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=630958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/630948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=630958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=630958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=630958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}