Gotham’s plans for socialist stores reportedly have bodega owners on edge, especially after a City Hall meeting included “intrusive” questions.
“… and that’s why there is distrust.”
A budget bust deferring pension payments, fleeing billionaires and a state bailout haven’t 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’s hopes for government-run grocery stores have left competitors understandably “put off” by prying questions about their “profits and margins.”
According to a report from the New York Post, Julie 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 “barraged with ‘intrusive’ questions about their businesses.
“They wanted us to share proprietary information with them but they don’t answer our questions and that’s why there is distrust,” explained one of the representatives for the city’s 13,000 bodegas who attended. Prior to the meeting, a questionnaire was distributed, prying for details about, “What items are sold the most at your stores?” “Where is your profit margin the greatest?” and more.
Earlier this year, Mamdani moved ahead with plans to open the first of a number of government-run grocery stores in East Harlem’s La Marqueta, expected to cost taxpayers about $30 million despite operating rent- and tax-free. Meanwhile, as the industry already operates with bare minimum profit margins, owners couldn’t help but feel the city’s prying for input and claimed intentions against competing were little more than an afterthought.
“I would be put off if my local government asked me questions about my profits and margins,” an anonymous food policy expert who reportedly does business with the city told the Post. “It’s none of their business.”
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 “to make sure that those who have served the community are still thriving after the public markets open.”
In her own statement to the outlet, Su argued, “We 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.”
“One of the questions we wanted to understand is whether there are key products bodegas sell and rely on that we should not sell. That’s how serious we are about not undercutting them,” she added, suggesting the government-run businesses would actually direct customers to the bodegas.
Mamdani’s office also issued a statement, telling the Post, “Decisions on the exact types of food products offered will vary by store and have not been finalized at this point.”
Meanwhile, bodega owners said the city asked them not to share details of the meeting with the NYC Groceries Interagency Taskforce.
“I 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,” stated Nonas. “They are often the one market that exists in a poor area until it’s gentrified, and then all of a sudden their rent goes up.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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