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Strapped New Yorkers swarm chaotic Mamdani-inspired free grocery store pop-up: We’re 'in pain’
foxnews.com ^ | February 19, 2026 | Emma Colton , Kiera McDonald

Posted on 02/19/2026 6:15:54 AM PST by V_TWIN

On Sunday in a busy stretch of restaurants and boutiques in the West Village, hundreds of New Yorkers queued up outside a pop-up shop offering free groceries.

"New Yorkers are in pain," Nick from Queens, New York, one of several people Fox News Digital interviewed outside the pop-up, said as he waited to grab pasta sauce, bath soap and a bag of Tide Pods.

The scene was underscored by the city's cost of living woes and anxiety over who would get a yellow ticket granting entry to the small shop before they "sold out" of goods.

As the crowd grew, however, so did the tension.  People in line told Fox News Digital Sunday that they were worried they’d made the trip for nothing. "I literally got here at 9 o’clock… and basically what they said is that they ran out of tickets," a woman named Fatima told Fox News Digital.  Another man, Sherrod from Jamaica, Queens, said the same happened to him. 

"They told me that they ran out of tickets," he said. "I couldn’t get no more food.… I couldn’t get access to the store."

As the crowd grew, however, so did the tension.

People in line told Fox News Digital Sunday that they were worried they’d made the trip for nothing.

"I literally got here at 9 o’clock… and basically what they said is that they ran out of tickets," a woman named Fatima told Fox News Digital.

Fatima and Sherrod spoke after security guards began pushing people off the block shortly after 9 a.m., when the first batch of tickets was gone. Several shoppers said they were told to leave the area and come back around 1:30 p.m. for another chance — and not to linger on the sidewalk as ticket-holders moved through the store.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: food; freestuff; newyork; petfood
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To: PGalt

101 posted on 02/19/2026 6:50:20 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
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To: Republican Wildcat; All

GREAT quote. GREAT thread. BTTT.


102 posted on 02/20/2026 4:39:37 AM PST by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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