[scoofy]

No! That’s ridiculous. New York City is full of businesses (services) that can barely survive and constantly need to get bailed out by the state.

The idea that somehow NYC is going to start operating a for-profit toothpaste company to prop up a grocery store is genuinely absurd. There likely isn't even enough people in NYC to justify the costs of production! We're talking about national and international retailers engaged in these practices... selling to hundreds of millions of customers.

These are very risky endeavors that have bankrupted multiple grocery chains. NYC should not be operating something with that risk profile to simple get cheap consumer packaged goods on the shelves... especially when the business is already extremely competitive and low margin!

[ceejayoz]

> The idea that somehow NYC is going to start operating a for-profit toothpaste company to prop up a grocery store is genuinely absurd.

That is not at all how store brands work.

[scoofy]

It's still a company and a brand, even if it's a private label or white label products. It's still an investment with the potential to lose a ton of money. It's still a business. I still think the idea that NYC's grocery stores are somehow going to out compete stores with much larger volume is just a ludicrous prospect. Especially when they're going to pay their employee's more.

But, maybe it works and I'm missing something. I mean, is it a worthwhile experiment? Sure, but I hope there is a cap on how much money they're allowed to lose before the program is shuttered.