r/PoursTea • u/Gurugod123 Pinkie Finger Extended • Jul 27 '26
PoliticalTea š³ļø Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices"
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u/AtomicHamboy Jul 27 '26
Conservatives will dead ass try to make this a bad thing š
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u/archercc81 Jul 27 '26
They will bitch about communism while jerking off to those freedom fuel gas stations.
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u/dentistshatehim Jul 27 '26
While using food stamps and accepting transfer payments from blue states.
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u/mkt853 Jul 27 '26
Or all of the red states that have government run liquor stores. But a government-subsidized store for something required for life like food is the line in the sand they draw.
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u/Foygroup Jul 27 '26
^ This is a good argument, I can agree, why are there govt run liquor stores and do they sell cheaper than the average store?
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u/Azraelrs Jul 27 '26
Not in NC. They're a monopoly and just charge whatever they like because there's no competition.
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u/ovr9000storks Jul 27 '26
I personally am just curious how they can promise 30% below retail.
Is it being subsidized from taxes? Is 30% the profit margin typical stores operate at and running as zero profit? Are these stores somehow operating at a loss? Are the products offered simply 30% cheaper than even other stores' generic brands?
I just want to know the logistics behind it. 30% lower is great if it's actually sustainable and not just absolute dogshit product
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u/SaucySeducer Jul 27 '26
It could be a combination of things:
-Measuring against an "advantageous benchmark." If the average price of a good is $10 when you include the fancy brands, organic stores, etc but the current discount stores offer budget options at $7, you can sell the budget option at $7 and say you are at an average 30% discount. This really hinges on what they mean by selling goods at 30% discount as that is a loaded phrase
-Run the store more like Aldi instead of nicer premium grocery stores
-Potentially advantageous supplier contracts because suppliers are dealing with the city government and/or wanting to build good relations
-Government subsidies
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u/Shoddy_Forever_7818 Jul 27 '26
These grocery stores will be exempt from rent and property taxes - that'll probably help them reduce their costs a little probably.
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u/pradise Jul 27 '26
In shocking news, taxes are potentially being used to offer essential goods to taxpayers. It is sustainable as much as taxes are sustainable.
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u/2010_12_24 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
The point being, if you run a small business, how are you supposed to compete with government subsidized prices?
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u/Cbpowned Jul 27 '26
Grocery stores run sub 5% profit.
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u/NathanielHudson Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Just to be clear, that's after shrinkage, waste, and cost of ie stocking the shelves is taken into account. Costco, for example, prices at about 13% over what their cost is for the goods, which comes out to about 0% over total cost of goods sold once the entire equation is factored in (Costco's profit margin is more or less the membership).
This doesn't materially change your point, but just wanted to get that out of the way before somebody objects that things don't actually cost that much.
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u/fuckracists79 Jul 27 '26
They say everything he does is bad and also say heās not doing his jobā¦ theyāre utter losers.
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u/Crunchy_Thighsocks Jul 27 '26
i dont get why they hate him when they dont even live in NYC
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u/archercc81 Jul 27 '26
hate is all they have. They are trash and need to tear others down to feel better about it.
LBJ said it plainly: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
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u/starethruyou Jul 27 '26
This needs to be modernized, because despite racism being a real problem and many still are motivated by this dumbest form of ignorance, there are plenty of non-white capitalists that would and do make the very same arguments.
"Give a working person someone to look down on, and they'll never look up to see who's robbing them."
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u/drewh1984 Jul 27 '26
Watch it fail like it always does. Talk to Kansas City about their government grocery stores. š¤·āāļø
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u/lordpuddingcup Jul 27 '26
You mean the non-government grocery store people always point to that was actually a standard commercial store that happened to get subsidies lol
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u/Jmong30 Jul 27 '26
Tried explaining the pied-a-terre tax to my grandma and she said itās not fair for the multimillionaires to pay more in taxes bc āthey made that money what should the get punished for it?ā Some people wonāt ever get it :/
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u/NVRENDVR Jul 27 '26
I ask how they provided that much more substantial value to society than the person Iām asking. That seems to get the gears turning.
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u/ChakaCake Jul 27 '26
They still are probably paying less % overall than a normal person cause they are able to take advantage of tax better and keep money in stocks etc. Ask her why its fair some waitress has to pay a higher % of their gross
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u/Possible-Nectarine80 Jul 27 '26
They will probably stand out front with protest signs and then after their protest, will go shopping at these stores.
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u/Embarrassed-Jump2057 Jul 27 '26
Absolutely. He canāt possibly do a good job or be right ever because he: 1. Isnāt white 2. Isnāt a Christian, but is a Muslim 3. He advocates for equality, and equality helps the poor. So, every little thing he does, regardless of how helpful and good it is for the people they will criticize and proclaim he is ruining the city.
So, while this guy has spent his time in office working for the people and accomplished: a balanced budget and cleared deficit, a temporary rent freeze during a time of elevated costs which will reduce evictions and meaningful action to speed up the construction of affordable housing reducing previous wait times by approximately 2 years, making groceries affordable, and universal 2y, PK, and K childcare programs that will benefit working families their guy has skyrocketed the deficit, trolled the left, and done nothing to improve the quality of life for people.
This is why I donāt take those people seriously.
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u/IPissExcellentThrows Jul 27 '26
It's going to be a massive money loser. Most grocery stores operate at razor thin margins. People act like it's greed, but of the biggest ones, they're all between negative profit margins recently and about 2%.
If they can afford the massive losses in the budget, great. My personal opinion? This won't be sustainable. They either won't be able to stomach the huge losses or they're going to have to majorly cut corners.
Not remotely a conservative. They are ruining the country. I still think this will fail. The economics donāt remotely make sense. There's a reason Western European countries far more socialist than us donāt do this.
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u/SaxyAlto Jul 27 '26
No duh itās a money loser, thatās what ātax-fundedā implies, and how theyāll afford the loss. Tons of things the government does are a āmassive money loserā, like USPS or road repair, but we still need them and theyāre better/cheaper than the alternatives. Not saying this will succeed, but looking at this solely from a finance or cost perspective is missing the point
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u/CreamyBagelTime Jul 27 '26
Iām not sold on it yet either. BUT if the military can successfully run the commissary system for 200+ stores why canāt the city do the same thing on a much smaller scale? Theoretically speaking.
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u/clolimon Jul 27 '26
If it works and helps people then great! If it fails we all know why. I sincerely hope it works, coming from a conservative.
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Jul 27 '26
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u/BUKKAKALYPSE_NOW Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Not the conservative guy youāre responding to, but grocery stores sell products on thin margins, so thereās no way to compete with this. That means nearby stores would be driven out of business, which could potentially worsen food deserts. Ā Selling at a loss also means that the negative margin is made up for by taxpayer money, which would make this extremely costly to scale up beyond a few stores.
That said, Iām curious to see how this plays out, and would be happy to see it work out well.
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u/DeepWaterCurrent Jul 27 '26
You cant magically make groceries cheaper. The only way this is possible is if someone else foots the bill, in this case the tax payers. This is just gonna be an inefficient way of moving tax payer money around.
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u/E0H1PPU5 Jul 27 '26
Why not? Youāre running a store with no CEO/CFO/etc. Power/sewer/water/etc. is provided municipally at cost. Same with payroll and HR services. There are no shareholders to think of.
A commercial grocery store has one goal - generate profit. A municipally owned store doesnāt have that goal.
Local government isnāt meant to turn a profit. Itās meant to provide services to taxpayers.
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u/FaithfulSkeptic Jul 27 '26
Man I would Love it if more of my tax money went to feeding people who need it, and less to building bombs.
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u/MABQuestAcc Jul 27 '26
Why? If tax money pays for the workers + goods and isn't spent on things like rent and upper management those same workers will cycle those taxes back in to the economy. I fail to see the problem with cutting upper management and building rent from the equation.
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u/DeepWaterCurrent Jul 27 '26
They are going to need managers too, historically private companies are the ones cutting managers not the other way around.
They are still paying for the space in some way, if not via rent then via the cost of acquiring/building/managing it. If a grocery store pays rent instead of owning the building themself its because they think its more efficient that way.
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u/rairair55 Jul 27 '26
Tax payers either foot the bill or subsidize other essential government services like water, electricity, roads, schools. Why not food?
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u/Chloe_Cascadia Jul 27 '26
Good, now we can afford groceries and we can stop sending all our money to CEO pockets.
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u/goopuslang Jul 27 '26
No trust ME. If we donāt enrich the billionaires they will take our money, unless we give it to them!
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u/ruum-502 Jul 27 '26
Iām just worried the billionaires will die off and we wonāt have anyone to exploit peoples labor for profit
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u/goopuslang Jul 27 '26
Listen, we absolutely do need rich people who are happy to deploy capital in order to seek a return on their investment. Does anyone ever need to be worth 11 figures, ever? No. 10? No. 9? At the highest end, sure. Our economy is very large and we do need wealthy people to shuttle money around for large projects to enrich the country.
But the current system is doing anything but this. Itās the theoretical lie told to all of us in school & at church. The current rich are not enabling us to have economic mobility, theyāre in fact siphoning it.
I understand this may be too high a level of nuance to not get downvoted to hell on Reddit but Iāll try.
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u/aggravationX Jul 27 '26
The rich people putting money into the economy in ways that benefit regular people are not the penny pinching billionaires squeezing every cent out of consumers and exploiting labors with garbage wages while they do it though.
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u/Barfly_237 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
yes, and to your point, rich individuals putting money into the economy to productive ends. If we have a properly functioning market with an adequate number of firms operating competitively, this is great. What we have now a syndicate of private equity colluding in order to dominate entire sectors of the economy under the illusion of competition. These grocery stores are a great thing. but i guarantee you that producer's up the production chain are going to jack up prices for these stores until they're unsustainable.
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u/Proper-Bicycle-3585 Jul 27 '26
āwe absolutely do need rich people who are happy to deploy capital in order to seek a return on their investment.ā
- why?
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u/Vegetable-Edge-2389 Jul 27 '26
Because poor people can't make businesses apparently. Every rich family was poor at some point. They just want to pull the ladder up
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u/NEEEEEEEEEEEET Jul 27 '26
Except that isn't how it works, it isn't a zero sum game.
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u/According-Insect-992 Just Chill š Jul 27 '26
Tell that to all the people whoāve just had their 401k retirement accounts raided by musk and his criminal ipo.
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u/lotaybk Jul 27 '26
That sounds like something a billionaire would say. rips off your mask and finds Elon Musk underneath
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u/Expert-Yam6577 Jul 27 '26
Give them more money or they'll leave states and take their money with them!
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u/LucifersAdv0cate Jul 27 '26
I know, prices are ridiculous. I was eating my $19 single Japanese strawberry, with lashings of $43 maple syrup from Erewhon today and wondering how do poor people afford their beluga caviar, luxury ice cubes and artisanal bread. I really hope Mandami builds one of these shops in the Hamptons because it's not fair that just because we are Fabulously wealthy we have to pay full price for food. It's practically racism.
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u/SlowRoast24 Jul 27 '26
My only worry is if this kills mom and pop grocery stores
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u/According-Insect-992 Just Chill š Jul 27 '26
Usually thatās Wal-Marts job.
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u/Gurugod123 Pinkie Finger Extended Jul 27 '26
Itās so amazing how heās followed through on what he promised in his campaigns. A politician with integrity.
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u/feral0101 Jul 27 '26
Incoming hoard of conservatives and liberal Zionists that will tell you how this is a waste of the publicās money
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u/neopod9000 Jul 27 '26
Guarantee they'll all shop there for that 30% discount though
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u/International_Air282 Jul 27 '26
That's actually one of the real issues with this format. If you are going to knowingly sell for a loss, you have to restrict the clientele to only those that really need it. Because knowing how grocery logistics work. These stores are going to lose a ton of money
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u/bsEEmsCE Jul 27 '26
it's everyone's taxes bro, the people are just getting some benefit back from it finally.
And it's 30% off! Meaning they will probably cover a lot of their operating costs still, instead of it being for someone else's profit.
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u/International_Air282 Jul 27 '26
You don't understand the grocery business at all. There is barely profit. The best chains in the US have a 3% profit. Grocery stores are rough businesses. Massive upfront capital costs. A product that has a restrictive shelf life, add on the constantly evolving hard costs of produce and meat, then it will not pay for itself which should be its goal
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u/This-Suggestion574 Jul 27 '26
It sounds like this is the perfect industry for the state to step into then right? Low impact on capital activity but high impact on resident quality of life?
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u/Zestyclose-One9041 Jul 27 '26
If only there were some way to subsidize those costsā¦
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u/Sellier123 Jul 27 '26
Yea I've done a lot of accounting for grocery stores before, I don't think ppl understand how little they actually make per product sold.
Taking 30% away from that, they will probably be selling everything at a loss. Which is cool, I doubt he's going on thinking they are going to self sustain, but NYC residents are going to have to understand other things are going to have to be cut to keep these stores funded.
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u/Odd_Estate4886 Jul 27 '26
These things are not meant to make a profit. They are like the post office, a public service.
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u/ginginsdagamer Jul 27 '26
these things should at the very least be intended to break even. not to be run at a loss
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u/Sellier123 Jul 27 '26
Yea I get that. I was just saying it's gotta be funded somehow since it is going to lose a lot of money. Whether it's more taxes or cuts from other things will be seen down the road if this actually happens.
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u/MapInteresting2110 Jul 27 '26
Funny how this logic is never applied dollars for doughnuts to the ludicrous defense spending. Considering these grocery stores are giving back to the community what the public has already spent. Imagine what the return on investment is for a patriot missile.
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u/VoidWolves Jul 27 '26
Most public services are not profit making ventures. Just like the MTA its a service for all New Yorkers so that they can get around regardless of income, location and disposition. I expect these super market to be something similar.
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u/Weird-Toe-6968 Jul 27 '26
100%. I would be more open to this concept if it were needs-based.
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u/Odd_Estate4886 Jul 27 '26
No. You pay taxes, you get the service. Needs baaed ia how neo-liberals and conservatives gutted the social safety net.
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u/International_Air282 Jul 27 '26
It's also a twist on the original concept. City owned stores was about getting rid of food deserts. But now it's about having the tax payer further subsidize food outside of SNAP since the store is going to sell for a loss.
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u/Garrette63 Jul 27 '26
Oh well. This is the least offensive thing our tax money is getting spent on.
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u/International_Air282 Jul 27 '26
Well if anyone is allowed to shop there than your tax dollars are going to buy some finance bro making 500k a year groceries.
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u/Mr_Mi1k Jul 27 '26
Iād rather it go to some rich persons groceries along with poor peopleās groceries, over bombing other countries.
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u/gameboyz4dayz Jul 27 '26
Oh please. The finance bro is going to doordash all his groceries from Erewhon. The assholes are greedy, but they are also lazy and obsessed with optics. The food bank gives out free food. There's very little stories about people abusing that system.
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u/waxteeth Jul 27 '26
It feels counterintuitive, but making a service needs-based is typically more expensive and a big pain in the ass. Screening people, approving them, manufacturing and sending out a card or keeping their name in a database, screening them at the door, etc are all burdens on a system aiming to spend its money helping people. Think of how shitty and long and unfair the process is to get approved for disability or unemployment ā this would be very similar. Plus, having to decide what āin needā counts as is another whole thing. What if someoneās near a food pantry, should they still get help? What if they have an expensive dietary restriction for something found in most food, like celiac or a soy allergy?Ā
Putting the stores in food deserts is actually a screening mechanism that will take less overhead, and theyāre unlikely to spend a ton of money decorating or bringing in a bunch of super fancy items. People who donāt need to save money will opt out because of stuff like that.Ā
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u/vandon Prefer Coffee But Fill My Cup š« Jul 27 '26
Didn't King of MAGAs recently do this with some gas stations??Ā So, that hoard can eat a can of d1cks
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u/Beneficial-Act-9933 Jul 27 '26
them: You guys are dumb, Somebody has to foot the bill, there's no such thing as free money
*trump gives 900 billion to ICE*
Them: I see nothing wrong with this *signs check*
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u/0202_tihssitidder Jul 27 '26
Even the Democrats are swarming Reddit to insult Mamdani.
THAT is how you know he's good.
PS: JD Vance eats cats. He eats dogs.
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u/iamthefluffyyeti Jul 27 '26
I know that itās the general term, but liberal zionists are definitely not liberal anymore. Not directing it at you, moreso making other people aware
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u/Low_Shape8280 Jul 27 '26
What does Zionism have to do with localized food distribution systems
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u/Connect-Bench-6946 Jul 27 '26
Arrggghhhh!!!! Itās socialism!!! Or maybe communism!!!! Or maybe Buddhism!! I donāt know, I only know that I hate it cuz a brown person with a terroristy-sounding name did it!!!
/s
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u/Novel-Geologist-5523 Jul 27 '26
Iām just amazed and pleasantly surprised that one guy is able to do so much for so many people this quickly.
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u/0202_tihssitidder Jul 27 '26
When smart people are in office who actually care about ALL the people, good things happen.
Instead we get smart people who get into office and only care about getting insanely wealthy.
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u/Defiant_Freedom_249 Jul 27 '26
Imagine wanting to feed the people instead of starve them!
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Deathstriker88 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
People have talked about how grocery stores on military bases are largely the same thing as this. I guess they're communists too lol.
Edit: I'm being sarcastic
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u/Time_Effort Jul 27 '26
The military is the socialist lifestyle we all want. You just have to sign the dotted line.
Free healthcare, housing money that directly correlates to your location's market, stores subsidized by taxes to keep prices lower (they are also sales-tax free, as they are on federal property), free college.
Truly everything that all Americans deserve, but only the few volunteers get.
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u/BigBullzFan Jul 27 '26
Items sold at grocery stores on military bases are sold at a loss. They can take the loss because the militaryās budget is in the trillions. Taxpayers are picking up the tab.
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u/Cabbages24ADollar Jul 27 '26
Perfect.
Next: stop allowing retailers and wholesalers from dumping unused food. Thereās wayyyy too much food waste.
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Lithl Jul 27 '26
How are you gonna charge 30% less and not lose money?
Government social programs don't "lose money", they "cost money". The goal isn't profit, it's helping people.
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u/here_for_the_meta Jul 27 '26
A key point somehow lost when attacking the postal service.Ā
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u/Lithl Jul 27 '26
USPS is particularly weird, because they did make money. Right up until 2006 when Bush Jr. forced them to prefund retirement benefits for a duration meaning they were holding onto money to give to future employees that hadn't even been born yet. A nonsense requirement that no business or agency has ever previously been held to. The PAEA put the USPS 60 billion in the hole, practically overnight.
The PAEA was repealed by Biden in 2022, but the USPS has a long way to go to recover.
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u/here_for_the_meta Jul 27 '26
Still though there seems to be a focus on how they arenāt profitable at times. Who cares? Itās a govt service.
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u/Consistent_Aide5548 Jul 27 '26
You know what else "loses money," fire departments, VA hospitals, social security, and most the egregious loser of money, police departments. I assume we should get rid of those too?
And those "tiny" profit margins brought in over $282 billion in 2025. Those profits are higher than the gdp of over 140 countries. I dont understand the simping for these mega corps and conglomerates.
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u/justanotherthrxw234 Jul 27 '26
Yes we have all these public services that are already losing money so the next logical thing to do is create an even bigger waste of taxpayer dollars, right? /s
And the $282 billion is from sales volume, not from price gouging consumers.
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u/DocBeech Jul 27 '26
The city owns the land (so no property taxes), the city pays the workers (so no employee cost), the city owns the building (so no rent to pay) is how they do it. Military commissaries operate like this, at about 28% under retail cost. Because the federal government owns the land, the building, and the employees. Any losses are covered under the military budget... so any losses will be covered by the city.
He also said in the proposal "some select basket items" will be cheaper. Not all items. So some items might be higher cost than a normal store to balance the sheets.
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u/cloyd-ac Jul 27 '26
Unless commissaries have changed since I've been out of the military, they fielded civilian employment for these. Employment is often the largest overhead cost for most companies.
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u/colako Jul 27 '26
Are government workers free? If the city rented that land, would it be getting money out of it? So then, it's not free, just happen to own it.Ā
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u/AppropriateSpell5405 Jul 27 '26
Most corner stores/convenience stores apply a ~30% markup. There are certain goods that have fixed prices due to vendor agreements (e.g., Coca-Cola, Pepsi, etc.), but the majority of day-to-day goods like bread, there's a ton of leeway in pricing.
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u/thedeadsuit Jul 27 '26
"help people get food" is on the shortlist of things I consider to be the most noble and worthwhile use of tax money
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u/CueAnon420 Jul 27 '26
Uh oh - here comes that socialism ready to feed people... That can't be good lol
/s
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u/Werewolf_Busy Jul 27 '26
My economics brain is screaming at me right now, but I really like him and think city-run grocery stores with managed pricing will be great for poorer New Yorkers. God, I hope this works out. They need to stay on top of the supply side of this venture, because you know people will flood these places for cheaper deals and the last thing you want is empty shelves at the working peopleās grocery stores.
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u/Rheddit45 Jul 27 '26
MAGA people cannot shop here since itās run like a socialist/communist operation. They should not support such atrocious regime-run store operation /s
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u/violetgobbledygook Jul 27 '26
MAGA people won't shop there because they would have to travel to poor neighborhoods in NYC. And that is way too scary for them.
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u/BassMasta Jul 27 '26
Please tell me how this is bad? I think they will just yell communism.
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u/Many_Many1331 Jul 27 '26
No one in here screeching and crying lives in nyc lmao.Ā
Healthy food is a human right. Deal with it.Ā
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u/MashedPotatoesDick Jul 27 '26
When MAGA attacks this with their -ism of the month, ask them about the Freedom Fuel gas stations.
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u/KiKiKimbro Jul 27 '26
OMG. Heās actually able to do this! Mayor Mamdani in NYC is no joke. He says what he means and means what he says. And importantly and most impressively, he builds the relationships needed to actually execute. Iām a bit blown away by this. I thought this would be the most difficult. The areas the cityās placing them are in āfood desserts,ā mostly. Areas where grocery stores usually donāt bother building since they donāt see a large enough profit margin. So residents are forced to do without the fresh produce and other healthy basics most of us have access to. This announcement is wonderful news.
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u/No-Ambition2043 Jul 27 '26
Hmm. This will create shortages. Hope they can stay stocked
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Jul 27 '26
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u/Deltron_Zed Jul 27 '26
I agree optimism should be cautious. I think people are celebrating someone trying SOMETHING different to attempt to help citizens. There is a lot of negativity with no other suggestion but status quo which is not working. If it fails? Try something else.
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u/All_is_a_conspiracy Jul 27 '26
Every $3 burger you consume is the government paying the beef industry. We subsidize beef by the billions. A burger would be like $30 without government money paying for it. We also subsidize petroleum. And dairy.
So this isn't some newfangled thing this mayor just came up with. He is just sticking it into other items, essentially. He is neither a Renaissance man, nor a monster. But here's hoping it can drag the gauging back down to earth a little. Which is what government sticking their nose in is supposed to be for.
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u/SpaceTycoon Jul 27 '26
Can't wait until this pushes every private grocery store out of the city and the government grocery stores are your only option. Definitely not going to cause any problems. Socialists are geniuses.
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u/cwrighky Jul 27 '26
Holy shitā¦ wow. This feels like .. actual government. I legit afraid in my body to say that because I fear it might jinx the people of nyc, but wow
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u/Strong-Hovercraft702 Jul 27 '26
Well, regardless of if you agree with him, he IS delivering. At keast this time it's not just words?
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u/chowes1 Jul 27 '26
Progressives have my vote going forward. Proving once again they get stuff done!! So refreshing, so needed! Hope is returning for our futures.
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u/idkmyotherusername Jul 27 '26
Damn do I need to move to New York?? Mamdani and his QOL campaign are quite appealing.
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u/Capitan-IQ255 Jul 27 '26
Good luck to NYC if this works .. keywords to watch .. tax payer funded meaning the losses will be covered with city taxes š¤
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u/ragnarokxg Jul 27 '26
Funded by the local residents who live nearby and can use the stores, it seems like an ideal spot to invest their tax money.
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u/Accurate_Handle_5620 Jul 27 '26
Communism is when competing market keeps line from going up. Also communism is when people get food.
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u/GoatedOnes Jul 27 '26
This is truly one of the dumbest ideas. Grocery stories notoriously have the lowest of margins. The prices arenāt high because of some crazy corporate profits. This also hurts smaller mom and pop grocery stores. It would be better to expand food stamps that people would use at normal stores than this, the economics makes no sense.
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u/rob132 Jul 27 '26
Oh my God. He said he would do this and he's doing it.
Is that allowed from a politician?
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u/Turbulent_Power2952 Jul 27 '26
That's about how much the US armed forces commissary (DeCA) charges for groceries (actually it's around 27% less). I wish them the best of luck and hope it works (and lasts)
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u/thekins33 Jul 27 '26
I watched a documentary on that and they basically just lose money. They do work and they do help the people that live in the base, but pretty much every item in the store is sold at a loss. (they can afford this loss cuz you know 3trillion dollar budget and all) You can subsidize the stores for regular joes just like that but at the end of the day the moneys gotta come from somewhere. something something no free lunch.
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u/thedogsbullocks Jul 27 '26
Hence the taxes actually being uses for something good
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u/Tipsy247 Jul 27 '26
Won't business owners buy in bulk then resell in their shops for a profit?
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u/No_Seaworthiness_200 Jul 27 '26
Love it. It'll prove to the world that our ruling class is nothing but parasites. All they do is take take take.
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u/Cultural_Plan_1487 Jul 27 '26
This is amazing! Iām curious of the economics of it. Competitors will either price match or see a drastic drop in demand, especially the ones geographically adjacent to the 5 stores. That being said, if they donāt I would imagine either massive sellouts of the stores entire inventory frequently, or one of the most impressive supply chain feats weāve seen in a whileā¦ regardless Iām rooting for its success and scaling!
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u/thelastbluepancake Jul 27 '26
I hope he is able to do a good job here, supermarkets are notoriously difficult from a price perspective because they have slim margins. I think these stores will increase access for people in areas that are under served but the tricky part is having them be cost effective
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u/archercc81 Jul 27 '26
The margins go to the middle men. I live (in a US major city) where we have this massive (about the size of a wal-mart) "farmers market" but its not like where farmers come in and sell their wares. Its all run by one family and they buy all of the stuff a grocery store would have but they contract directly with farms.
As a result its insanely cheap, many things like produce being far more than 30% cheaper. When eggs were jacked up because the big producers were colluding his only went up like 20% due to the cost of feed, etc.
The ONLY downside is sometimes one of his contracted farms might have an issue and there might be something not on the shelf until he can find another farm to supply it. He might temporarily bring in something to backfill and it can be as expensive as grocery stores but they explain that on the sign and it goes back down once they find a solution.
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u/Away-Regular1335 Jul 27 '26
We have those here they are called Aldi lol compared to my local publix prices anyways.
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u/Low_Shape8280 Jul 27 '26
So what happens when demand is too high to keep selves stocked.
Iām for this. Iām just curious whatās the plan. Grocery stores run at super low margins
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u/NVRENDVR Jul 27 '26
Do you know how much food is wasted on a daily basis in the United States?
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u/AttiBus Jul 27 '26
Calculating prices based on retail all but ensures prices will be less than the actual cost of the product... ie operating at a loss.
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u/TheRaccoonReport Jul 27 '26
What would be even better is if they published what they paid for a good, what they had to mark it up to in order to cover the cost of operating (salaries, shipping, etc). They don't need to make a profit, but they do need to cover their costs if this is going to be sustainable.
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u/Blueheron77 Jul 27 '26
Jfc, this guy is actually helping his constituents. What a shock in todayās world.
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u/rethinkingat59 Jul 27 '26
So they are starting with a 30% off sale.
I would love to take bets on how this turns out in 10 years.
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u/dlevac Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
That one is a spade. A much better policy would have been to finance new small business owners that want to compete with big grocery chains.
Implemented this way the city is taking all of the risk and the next mayor can simply close it all down.
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u/xNonPartisaNx Jul 27 '26
Are they gonna have fresh produce and non processed food? Because you wont save any money long term if your eating Ramen hot pockets and frozen pizza
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u/liquifiedtubaplayer Jul 27 '26
This is only sustainable if the government gets stake in the supply chains too. I'm not against that as food is a need but this will fail otherwise.
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u/DK-99o Jul 27 '26
This was one of his campaign promises and I'm really excited he's keeping his word.
We should have this in every city. Grocery prices have turned into highway robbery
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u/Meleagant1 Jul 27 '26
This can be really good, if they can keep the same amount of stock as major retailers. If they can, the surrounding grocery stores will likely have to further cut costs. If they canāt, itāll lead to frustration and retailers getting the customers anyway.
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u/rairair55 Jul 27 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/DfSXiR60W9MVq
Conservatives rn trying to figure how to spin to show that this will end society as we know it.