Below is an expanded version of my column in the New York Post on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s press conference this week on his planned state-run grocery stores. So, this week, Mamdani the Grocer made a reappearance, with details on the five city-run grocery stores that he will open. He suggests that real grocery stores are simply price gougers hoarding windfall profits from consumers. In Mamdani’s case, he has the credit of New York City to draw on to compete against Mom-and-Pop bodegas. The first city-run grocery, in East Harlem, will cost $30 million to build — and perhaps more.