Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s fresh Democratic nominee for mayor, devotes 126 words and a 43-second TikTok on his website to a signature proposal: “city-owned grocery stores.” This brevity might imply that function will follow form, that the idea is so self-evidently sensible that little needs to be said about it. What this self-assurance shows, though, is that Mr. Mamdani knows nothing about the grocery business, raising broader questions about the practicality of an assertive socialist agenda like his.

 

The Problem With Grocery Stores Isn’t Profits. It’s Reality.

By Nicole Gelinas

Ms. Gelinas, a contributing Opinion writer, is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.