The Multicultural Business Coalition is reportedly preparing to take legal action against Zohran Mamdani over his proposal for government run grocery stores, arguing that the plan would create unfair competition against private businesses already operating on thin margins. For small grocers, bodegas, markets, and immigrant owned shops, the concern is not hard to understand. Mamdani has promoted the concept of government run grocery stores as part of a broader affordability agenda. A government run grocery store would not have to survive the same way. Mamdani’s supporters may frame the plan as a bold answer to high grocery prices, but grocery prices did not rise because small shop owners suddenly became villains.