John Catsimatidis’ threat to close the Gristedes grocery store chain if mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is elected is an empty one. We should interpret such threats as an elaborate genre of billionaire fiction, authored by people who pay people to buy their produce and pasta.

There are only 17 locations of Gristedes, 15 of which are in Manhattan. While the Freak doesn’t condone shutting any grocery stores down, you could pick a worse chain to chase out of town: the selection at Gristedes is notoriously bad, and they are concentrated in the already well-served Manhattan market.

New York City deserves more, and better, grocery stores than it has. While in the Sunnywood area we love our Fresh n’ Save’s, our Food Universes, our Parrot’s, our G and H-Mart’s, and our Food Bazaar’s, the Freak believes that building more grocery stores is always an unqualified good. Zohran gets our vote, and the city would be better off if Cats moved to Florida.