Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis says electing Zohan Mamdani as mayor will damage New York Metropolis on ‘Varney & Co.’
New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan to create a community of city-owned grocery shops to drive down meals prices is dealing with pushback from the trade, with the pinnacle of a Manhattan-based grocery chain threatening to promote or shut the enterprise if Mamdani is elected.
John Catsimatidis, CEO of grocery chains Gristedes and D’Agostino Supermarkets, discovered fault with Mamdani’s plan, saying they could not compete out there if there are city-run supermarkets.
“Will Mamdani run the supermarkets with union assist? When folks begin shoplifting, will he even have cops arrest them,” Catsimatidis informed The New York Put up.
Mamdani, a New York State assemblymember who’s a self-identified democratic socialist, has been closing the hole towards former Gov. Andrew Cuomo within the lead-up to election day on Tuesday.
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Except for city-owned grocery shops, Mamdani campaigned on the promise to “decrease prices and make life simpler” for New Yorkers, which incorporates constructing extra reasonably priced housing, guaranteeing buses are free and removing childcare prices for each New Yorker aged 6 weeks to five years.
Gristedes Meals CEO John Catsimatidis speaks at a press convention in New York Metropolis on Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2022. (FOX Enterprise)
A person on X additionally known as Mamdani’s proposal for New York Metropolis “essentially the most economically delusional factor I’ve seen in a very long time.”
In contrast, a bunch of economists penned a letter, printed on-line earlier this month, saying “the financial knowledge is obvious: when the general public sector steps in to appropriate market failures within the provision of important items, shoppers profit.”
FOX Enterprise reached out to Mamdani for remark.
If elected, Mamdani stated he would redirect metropolis funds from company supermarkets to city-owned grocery shops “whose mission is decrease costs, not value gouging,” based on a video posted on his marketing campaign web site.
Zohran Mamdani, New York state assemblyman and New York Metropolis mayoral candidate, stated he would redirect metropolis funds from company supermarkets to city-owned grocery shops if elected. (Reuters/Bing Guan)
The grocery shops would not pay lease or property taxes, which might permit them to cut back overhead and cross on financial savings to buyers, based on Mamdani’s web site. They may also purchase and promote at wholesale costs, centralize warehousing and distribution, and associate with native neighborhoods on merchandise and sourcing.
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“The job of metropolis authorities is not to tinker across the edges, whereas one in 4 kids throughout our metropolis go hungry,” he stated within the video. “With New York Metropolis already spending thousands and thousands of {dollars} to subsidize personal grocery retailer operators (which aren’t even required to take SNAP/WIC!), we must always redirect public cash to an actual ‘public choice.'”
Folks store at a grocery retailer in Brooklyn on Could 13, 2025, in New York Metropolis. (Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)
In a March interview, Mamdani estimated {that a} pilot program for this plan would price $60 million to execute, however he argued town is ready to spend greater than double that on company supermarkets.
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A spokesperson for the Nationwide Grocers Affiliation (NGA) informed FOX Enterprise “{that a} extra rapid and impactful technique” to decrease meals prices “lies in implementing present antitrust legal guidelines to spur wholesome competitors amongst unbiased grocers and big-box chains.”
“We urge public officers in any respect ranges of presidency to direct sources towards implementing the Robinson-Patman Act, cracking down on value discrimination and monopolistic leverage, and to collaborate with state and federal companies to interrupt down limitations on swipe charges and regulatory burdens,” the spokesperson stated. This may “empower unbiased grocers and strengthen meals ecosystems extra sustainably than launching government-run shops.”
The Robinson-Patman Act was enacted in 1936 and prohibits value discrimination that might hurt competitors.
