Mayor Zohran Mamdani is planning to roll out a taxpayer-funded supermarket in East Harlem, promising cheaper eggs and produce. In order to do that, the cost for the grocery store is about double what it should be.

City Hall’s plan: hand an operator (to manage the store) a no-rent, no-tax deal. Mamdani said in a press conference, “The city will subsidize a core set of food staples. A private operator will run the store, but will answer to the standards the city will set. These standards include requirements that at our stores bread will be cheaper. Eggs will be cheaper. Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation. And workers will be treated with dignity.”

But out in the real world, other local shop owners aren’t too happy about the new store called “La Marqueta.”

Nearby grocers are already bracing for impact. Competing with a city-backed store that doesn’t pay rent or taxes isn’t exactly a level playing field. What is “affordable” for some could mean “out of business” for others.

And this isn’t a one-off. Mamdani wants five of these stores, with a projected $70 million total cost. But if the first store is at $30 million, the $70 million price tags is a fairy tale.

Sure, access to fresh food is a real issue. But history hasn’t been kind to government-run grocery experiments – they tend to burn cash faster than they lower prices.

So yes, the tomatoes might be cheaper but taxpayers are the ones footing the bill, and in socialist Mamdani’s world, it’s the small businesses that could end up paying the real price.