A bodega group opposed Mamdani's grocery plan. Now it's endorsing him.

[RandySF]

Shortly after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor in June, Radhamés Rodriguez, the president of an association of bodega owners, said his group could not back the candidate and cited a plan for city-run grocery stores that Mr. Rodriguez said would put his members out of business.

So it was quite a turn when, on Wednesday, Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Rodriguez clasped their hands together around Mr. Mamdani’s breakfast order — a foil-wrapped egg-and-cheese sandwich, with jalapeños — and raised them in the air to celebrate Mr. Mamdani’s endorsement by Mr. Rodriguez’s group.

Mr. Mamdani’s plan calls for the creation of five city-owned supermarkets, one in each borough, that he says would address inflation and the rising cost of groceries, particularly for working-class families. The city would most likely cover the stores’ rent and property taxes, allowing them to buy and sell goods at wholesale prices and use centralized warehouses. He has said that if the program were successful, he would consider expanding it.

The concept is popular with some voters, according to polls. But it has drawn criticism from budget experts worried about the estimated $60 million cost and from grocery store owners anxious about more competition. Mr. Mamdani’s political rivals have likened the plan to communism and called it unrealistic, pointing in part to a similar experiment in Kansas City, Mo., where a publicly supported supermarket run by a nonprofit recently closed.



https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/29/nyregion/nyc-mayor-election-news#mamdani-bodegas-endorsement

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I say Bravo to Mamdani for having the guts to try something new!

He strikes me as someone with a lot of good sense and the strength to see projects through.

[enid602]

2. Bodegas

The bodegas are essentially convenience stores which have much better food options than Circle K or Quick Trip. The supermarkets proposed are the kind of places that might be visited once every few weeks for big shopping trips. They’ll never replace the bodegas.