Latest news with #grocerystores
New York Times
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
The Solution to $10 Eggs Lies Within New York City Limits
A big feature of Zohran Mamdani's upset win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary was his focus on the unfairness of current food prices. He proposed piloting five city-run grocery stores. Voters loved it. Pundits mocked it. The idea was labeled communist, irrelevant, dangerous and silly. But the mockery missed the larger point: Cities have the power to bring down food prices and bring life to food deserts. They just haven't been using it. The food system in the United States is rigged in favor of big retailers and suppliers in several ways. Big retailers often flex their muscles to demand special deals; to make up the difference, suppliers then charge the smaller stores more. Those discounts are one reason independent grocers struggle to survive. They're a major reason we have food deserts. They're also a major reason that prices are so insane. Consider eggs. At the independent supermarket near my apartment, the price for a dozen white eggs last week was $5.99. At a major national retailer a few blocks away, it was $3.99. (For an identical box of cereal, the price difference was $3.) Any number of factors may contribute to a given price, but market power is a particularly consequential one. The thing is, preferential discounts can violate federal law. A 1936 statute called the Robinson-Patman Act forbids suppliers from offering sweetheart deals that aren't based on actual efficiencies of scale. The idea behind the law was to make sure smaller retailers could get a fair shake and consumers could get the benefit of real competition. But in the 1980s, amid a general climate of deregulation, the government largely backed off. For the two decades after 2000, no cases were brought at all. When Lina Khan became chair of the Federal Trade Commission in 2021, she brought two Robinson-Patman cases. But one of the first acts of President Trump's new commissioners was to pull the plug on one of them. Cities like New York don't have to wait for the federal government to act. They can pass their own laws against price discrimination and include real penalties. That could improve profit margins for existing independent stores. It would help them to survive in the areas where people most lack access to good, affordable groceries and fresh food. And it would incentivize more small groceries to set up shop — all developments that could bring the kind of neighborhood-level competition that drives down prices. The standard objection to this logic is that big national chain retailers earn those discounts simply by being more efficient. That may be true in individual cases, but more broadly, the evidence is not so straightforward. Independent grocers that band together in associations — as many of those in New York City do — can be just as efficient as their larger competitors. Even if the little stores' costs are higher in a few areas, any economist will tell you that more retail competition leads to lower prices overall. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trader Joe's opening a number of new locations. Where will the new stores be in Louisiana?
Trader Joe's is planning to open approximately 30 new stores throughout the U.S., with a number of new stores having already opened this year. The grocery store chain currently operates 581 stores across 42 states and Washington, D.C. The new locations can be found on the company's website on the "Find a Trader Joe's" page, under the "Opening Soon" tab. Trader Joe's plans to open two new store locations in Louisiana Trader Joe's is planning to open two new locations in Louisiana, however, the date and time of both stores' openings remains to be determined, according to Trader Joe's announcements regarding store openings. Both of the new Trader Joe's locations will be located in New Orleans, at 2428 Napoleon Ave and 2501 Tulane Ave. "Our Crew is working hard so we can open our doors in 2025. We'll continue to post new details about the store and its opening here, so please check back for updates," reads Trader Joe's announcement about the New Orleans stores. Trader Joe's currently has two operating stores in Louisiana, one in Baton Rouge, located at 3535 Perkins Rd., and one in Metairie, located at 2949 Veterans Blvd. Trader Joe's opening new store locations. Here's where Glenmont, New York: 388 Feura Bush Rd. Staten Island, New York: 6400 Amboy Rd. Newton, Massachusetts: 1165 Needham St. Berwyn, Pennsylvania: 550 Lancaster Avenue Shelton, Connecticut: 801 Bridgeport Ave. Boston, Massachusetts: 1999 Centre St. Iselin, New Jersey: 675 US-1 Exton, Pennsylvania: 125 West Lincoln Hwy. Peachtree City, Georgia: 258 City Circle Columbia, Missouri: 201 N Stadium Blvd. New Orleans, Louisiana: 2501 Tulane Ave. Washington, D.C.: 5335 Wisconsin Ave. NW Virginia Beach, Virginia: 220 Constitution Drive Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: 115 SayeBrook Pkwy. New Orleans, Louisiana: 2428 Napoleon Ave. Daytona Beach, Florida: 1511 Cornerstone Blvd. Yucaipa, California: 31545 Yucaipa Blvd. Westminster, Colorado: 9350 Sheridan Blvd. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 6920 Northwest Expy. San Antonia, Texas: 11745 I-10 W McKinney, Texas: 8101 Eldorado Pkwy. Goodyear, Arizona: N Bullard Ave. & McDowell Rd. La Verne, California: 2330 Foothill Blvd. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: 1451 E Hillside Dr. Bee Cave, Texas: 12812 Shops Pkwy. Gresham, Oregon: 2083 NE Burnside Rd. Riverdale, Utah: 4060 Riverdale Rd., Suite B Holladay, Utah: 1895 East Rodeo Walk Dr. Miller Place, New York: 302 NY-25A Miller Place Northridge, California: 9224 Reseda Blvd. Presley Bo Tyler is a reporter for the Louisiana Deep South Connect Team for Gannett/USA Today. Find her on X @PresleyTyler02 and email at PTyler@ This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Is Trader Joe's opening new store locations in Louisiana? More here Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Socialist Mamdani's supermarket plan would be 'bullet to the heart' of blue-collar America, lawmaker warns
A House Republican who's had experience with his own family grocery store chain is criticizing New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's call for government-owned markets. "This will be a bullet into the heart of the U.S. grocery industry, if this caught on," Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital in an interview. Mamdani, a self-declared democratic socialist, has proposed a pilot program of five government-owned grocery stores – one in each New York City borough – in a bid to reduce food insecurity in underserved areas and bring down grocery costs. But skeptics like Rulli note that grocery stores already operate on razor-thin profit margins, generally between 1% and 3%. His family owns and operates Rulli Brothers, a small chain of two grocery stores in the Youngstown, Ohio, area. "My brothers run that store, our family store…they have gone between [1.25%] and 1.7 net in the last five to six years," Rulli said. And while the pilot program only calls for five stores now, the Ohio Republican argued the idea could affect businesses both large and small if widened. "Say you're going to Cleveland, Ohio. And the mayor opens up ten government-run stores, half the cost of all the other different stores," Rulli posed. "Whether it's a mom-and-pop or…a Kroger, or you can have a Harris Teeter, all these different players – all of them would go out of business, and you'd only have the government-run business. So once you have only government-run business, there's no incentive for there to be creativity, competition, variety." He said costs could eventually go up as well if competition was muted. And Rulli argued that would affect working-class Americans the most with a loss of affordable variety, as well as the small corner stores in New York City colloquially known as "bodegas." Rulli referenced a famous photo of former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin making an unscheduled stop at a Texas grocery store while in the U.S. and marveling at the selection of products. "You have the options on different size, amounts…There's so many different things. And you're going to have 15 or 20 kinds of varieties. That makes for a good quality of life," Rulli said. Then, directed at Mamdani, he said, "You want to limit the amount of things that they could buy at the grocery store? One of the few things that the blue-collar American, the populist American, can actually take comfort in is the variety of [items] at the grocery store." Mamdani is a 33-year-old member of the New York State Assembly whose success in the New York City Democratic primary stunned politicos who expected at least an initially strong showing by former Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo. His far-left ideas and support from national-level Democrat firebrands like Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have made Mamdani an effective boogeyman for Republicans. Several Republicans from the Empire State told Fox News Digital last month that Mamdani winning the race in November could be politically beneficial for the GOP, though they also maintained that they would work against that outcome. Mamdani is running against Republican Curtis Sliwa and current Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who is running as an independent candidate in the race. Cuomo is rumored to be eyeing his own bid as an independent as well. Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's campaign for a response to Rulli.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
YouTuber James Charles slammed for foul-mouthed rant about design aid for visually-impaired pedestrians
James Charles has been blasted for having a meltdown over truncated domes, which are specifically installed to help those with visual impairments. In a now-deleted video, the 26-year-old make-up artist and YouTube star launched into a foul-mouthed rant about the ground surface indicators where he repeatedly complained about having to roll his suitcase or grocery cart over them. 'Whatever f**king bump, s**t f**king stupid a** things they put outside grocery stores and airports,' James began. 'Like what is the purpose of them, can someone genuinely explain it to me if you were like a f**king civil engineer. 'Why on god's green earth have I just spent $200 on f**king groceries but I want to roll them over those f**king bumps and give my entire cart a seizure.' After impersonating his carton of eggs going over the bumps, a visibly frustrated James then quipped: 'Why? What the f**k. Literally, what the f**k.' He continued: 'When you go to the airport, why have I got to roll my luggage over that s**t and have everything jumping around inside? 'It's having a seizure. Stop. It doesn't make any sense to me. What is the point? What is the point of those f**king bumps other than making everyone's life miserable. 'Can somebody tell me?' Luckily for James, social media users wasted no time in attempting to educate him on truncated domes, which are ground surface indicators designed to help those who are blind or visually impaired. Also known as detectable warnings or tactile paving, these raised surfaces create a distinctive pattern that can be felt underfoot or with a cane, alerting pedestrians to changes in surface level or potential hazards such as street crossings. While James has since deleted his rant-fueled video, social media users have been left furious by his lack of knowledge and his 'privilege.' Taking to Reddit, one slammed: 'I didn't know I could hate him more, but here we go. I think it's great the city implemented those for the visually impaired. 'I will never understand his anger. When my city decided to put that in the subway, I thought it was a great safety idea that benefits everyone.' 'His Main Character Syndrome prevents him from recognizing that sometimes things that happen around him concern other people,' another commented. A third continued: 'He's frothing at the mouth, big mad because... the bumps jostle his cart around a little bit? Can you imagine having this kind of energy for such an "issue"? Cause f**k man, there's more things to spend your time on.' 'Did he really just think they were put there for fun?' asked a fourth. Agreeing, another said: 'This! Even if you didn't know the exact reason, they're obviously there for a f**king purpose. 'These people really forget they're not the only ones existing on earth.' A sixth added: 'There are a shocking number of people who are so privileged and self-centered that they literally don't realize disabled people go out in the world and might need different things than they do. 'I would say they don't realize that disabled people even exist, but I think on some level they must and just assume that they have to stay inside and away from the public?'
Washington Post
01-07-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Mamdani's seriously bad idea for government-run grocery stores
It seems bizarre, in the year of our Lord 2025, to be debating whether the government should run the grocery stores. History has thoughtfully answered this question with multiple experiments, from the old Soviet Union to modern-day Venezuela. The answer is: 'No! Absolutely not! Are you crazy?' But here is Zohran Mamdani, the winner of New York's Democratic mayoral primary, suggesting that the city needs a 'public option' for groceries: five pilot stores, one in each borough, to help bring prices down and provide oases in the city's 'food deserts.' Forget the old-school communist talk about socializing the means of production — Mamdani wants to socialize the means of consumption.
