The city plans to have a “library-card-esque” ID in order to manage who is buying from the stores.
New York City Zohran Mamdani‘s city-run grocery stores will require an ID in order for New Yorkers to obtain discounted prices on staple goods that Mamdani has promised will be 30 percent lower than market rate.
During a press conference last Monday, the mayor said that the staple items at the store will be “below typical retail prices” and will include such items as milk, cheese, and bread.
However, Mamdani’s Economic Development Corporation interim chief Jeanny Pak said the stores will be secured so as to not risk people reselling the cheap goods. Mamdani said that the program was not for people “to make a quick buck through reselling.”
Pak then added that the city plans to have a “library-card-esque” ID in order to manage who is buying from the stores.
Mamdani’s DSA and Democrat elected leaders at large have opposed voter ID or even ensuring citizenship before voting. A majority of Americans support voter ID and citizenship-only voting with verification. The DSA endorsed DSA-member Mamdani ahead of his election, and claims, “Our candidates for office stand firm against racist voter ID laws and secret poll taxes like the ‘SAVE America Act.'”
Mamdani was mocked online for the grocery store ID plan. Similarly, the mayor was slammed after he asked people to show five forms of identification in order for them to shovel snow when the Big Apple was hit with a large storm earlier this year.
Mamdani has claimed that the city-owned grocery stores will not be competing with bodegas because of the limited amount of goods they will have. Others in the DSA have said that if bodegas or other grocery stores go under due to the competition of the socialist markets, perhaps they should not have been in business in the first place.
The socialist mayor has vowed to see the at least $70 million project through despite critics pointing out that more money could go to already established food programs in New York such as Meals on Wheels, food banks, or other programs.
GOP City Councilwoman Joann Ariola of Queens pointed out that the money Mamdani plans to spend on the five stores could pay for over $1 million Costo memberships and still save taxpayer money.
“$70M for slightly discounted produce is ridiculous,” Ariola said. “At this point it would be cheaper to just buy a million Costco memberships. We’d save $5M in taxpayer funds, and the public can buy their items in bulk. Win-win.”
Only two of the five city-owned grocery stores Mamdani plans to build have been announced, and the first will not open up until the end of 2027 at the earliest. The city is looking for partners who could run the stores, since the city has no idea or expertise in how to operate a market.