Billionaire grocery chain owner John Castimatidis expressed concerns following New York City's historic mayoral race that the Big Apple could become "lawless" under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's leadership.
Voters on Tuesday chose Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to become the city's 111th mayor.
Specifically, Castimatidis told FOX Business that he is worried that Mamdani will appoint judges that are too lenient and that he will reduce the city's police force.
FOX Business reached out to Mamdani's team for comment.
In the months leading up to Tuesday's election, Catsimatidis repeatedly threatened to pull his grocery store chain, Gristedes, out of the city in response to Mamdani's plans to create a network of city-owned grocery stores to drive down food costs. While he is backtracking on the threats to close or sell Gristedes locations, he said he wants to lessen his company’s exposure.
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Surging food prices was one of the central themes of Mamdani's campaign. His solution to combat this was to create a network of city-owned grocery stores "focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit," according to his campaign's website.
Mamdani claimed that without having to pay rent or property taxes, the stores "will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers." The stores would also buy and sell at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing, according to Mamdani's campaign website.
In a March interview, Mamdani estimated that a pilot program for this plan would cost $60 million to execute, but he argued the city is set to spend more than double that on corporate supermarkets.
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A National Grocers Association spokesperson previously told FOX Business that a better solution to lower food costs is "enforcing existing antitrust laws to spur healthy competition among independent grocers and big-box chains."
"We urge public officials at all levels of government to direct resources toward enforcing the Robinson-Patman Act, cracking down on price discrimination and monopolistic leverage, and to collaborate with state and federal agencies to break down barriers on swipe fees and regulatory burdens," the spokesperson said. This will "empower independent grocers and strengthen food ecosystems more sustainably than launching government-run stores."
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The Robinson-Patman Act was enacted in 1936 and prohibits price discrimination that could harm competition.
