Hochul Throws Shade On Mamdani’s NYC-Owned Grocery Store Plan: ‘I Favor Free Enterprise’

Governor Kathy Hochul dismissed New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani’s idea of opening publicly owned grocery stores across the city, making clear she doesn’t support the socialist-style proposal.

“I favor free enterprise,” Hochul remarked during a breakfast gathering in the Hamptons hosted by supermarket tycoon John Catsimatidis, after being asked about Mamdani’s suggestion.

Her statement was met with loud applause from the business crowd, including Catsimatidis himself.

The owner of Gristedes supermarkets later told The Post that Mamdani’s initiative was doomed from the start, pointing to a taxpayer-funded grocery store in Kansas City, Missouri, that just shut its doors. That store, he noted, was plagued by theft, half-empty shelves, and massive losses, despite Kansas City pouring $18 million into it over the last ten years in an attempt to keep it running.

“New York City is a capitalist city – look what happened in Kansas City?” Catsimatidis said about the defunct Sun Fresh Market. “These types of grocery stores just don’t work.”

Hochul, who positions herself as a centrist Democrat, has not endorsed any candidate in the mayoral race thus far.

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and considered the favorite in November’s election, has laid out a plan to establish five city-run supermarkets, one in each borough, with the possibility of expanding to more locations later.

He projected that building the first five would require a combined investment of $60 million.

Opponents of the idea have derided it as a move toward “Soviet” markets, warning that shoppers could be left with only generic or single-brand choices for basics like bread and milk.

They’ve also raised concerns that government-set pricing could undercut private competitors like Gristedes, potentially driving them out of business and reducing consumer options in the city.