Will City-Run Grocery Stores Reduce Food Prices for New Yorkers?

Zohran Mamdani wants to keep food prices low. The Democratic frontrunner in New York City’s November mayoral election proposes that each borough have its own municipal-run grocery store. Freed from having to pay rent and property tax payments, these government-backed stores will buy and sell goods at wholesale prices and pass along their savings to neighborhood shoppers.

The Mamdani website reports that “nearly 9 in 10 New Yorkers say the cost of groceries is rising faster than their income,” yet the emphasis on affordability understates an even bigger problem, not just for New York City residents, but for the nation as a whole, and that is many people are not eating enough food to begin with.

The New York Health Foundation, a health policy research group, said in its most recent report that hunger is at its highest level in 5 years. Over 10% of all New Yorkers struggle to access enough food, while families with children are 1 1/2 times more likely to experience food insufficiency than households without children.

These statistics mirror nationwide USDA data showing that 13.5% of all U.S. households experienced food insecurity at one time or another during the year and that families with children bear an even greater burden. One of the coping strategies families use to overcome hunger, wrote the USDA, was to eat a less varied diet.

Therein lies the challenge for Zohran Mamdani: it’s not just about making food more affordable, but also about reducing hunger and ensuring families get enough nutrients to stay healthy. Recent research shows that people who follow healthy eating patterns are more likely to age well and avoid chronic disease.

Any resolution to the affordability crisis will require difficult choices, starting with who should benefit most from government spending. According to Robin Hood, a local anti-poverty organization, more than 4.6 million area residents had incomes below 200% of the poverty line in 2022. Of that number, 1.8 million are enrolled in SNAP. If a typical supermarket in New York City serves about 18,000 customers per week, as one Cornell  paper suggests, it is unlikely that five city-run grocery stores will provide enough shelf space to satisfy consumer demand for cheaper goods.

A second choice is what foods the city should make affordable. Fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads, salmon, and kidney beans all have nutritional value. By championing fruits and vegetables above all else, New York City would then be supporting one-half of the USDA’s food requirements. Fruits and vegetables, as one academic study notes, provide key nutrients at a reasonable cost.

New York City, for its part, is not so much a food desert as it is a food swamp. Most low income neighborhoods have a supermarket within walking distance, but are saturated with delis. This writer counted nine delis within a 10 minute walk of a supermarket near a public housing complex in South Jamaica, Queens. In the South Bronx, one deli in particular was advertising chicken over rice with salad and soda for $8.00. In sum, delis offer tasty, filling foods that present stiff competition for consumer dollars that might otherwise purchase sweet potatoes or blueberries.

A practical way forward is to not have city-run grocery stores, as Mr. Mamdani proposes, but to work with established supermarkets and subsidize all of their fruits and vegetables. A 2024 study put out by The Lancet found that a 20% reduction in price increased fruit and vegetable purchases 17%.

That said, New Yorkers would still lack essential nutrients. The USDA recommends that adults, in general, have at least 3 cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit a day. Most Americans, on average, are short by one cup of each. Eating 17% more fruits and vegetables may help reduce the risk of stroke, diabetes, and cancer as The Lancet explains, but to become healthier and lessen the risk of chronic disease, people need to eat more produce.

Under USDA guidelines, one cup of vegetables can be a large tomato, two cups of spinach, an avocado, or a cup of chopped broccoli. A serving of fruit can be eight strawberries or a large banana.

A public education campaign can help New Yorkers to better visualize what a serving of fruits or vegetables actually looks like. Eating an avocado/tomato salad with a baked sweet potato during the day—along with an apple and banana—seems like a manageable and affordable way to stay healthy.

Combining government subsidies for fruits and vegetables with an education campaign requires little in upfront investment, scales up easily, and works in unison with city merchants.

Mr. Mamdani should reconsider his proposal for city-run grocery stores.