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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: V_TWIN

Get it free, sell it for half price to the impatient without tickets. Communism is grand for capitalists.


41 posted on 02/19/2026 7:03:54 AM PST by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: fwdude

“guess “9:00 o’clock” is the crack of dawn”

Ya “crack of noon” is their wake up


42 posted on 02/19/2026 7:07:23 AM PST by stanne
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To: V_TWIN

“... as he waited to grab pasta sauce, bath soap and a bag of Tide Pods”

In democrat world, that’s a good, balanced diet...


43 posted on 02/19/2026 7:07:45 AM PST by farmguy ( )
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To: bwest

Polymarket


44 posted on 02/19/2026 7:07:55 AM PST by V_TWIN (America....so great even the people that hate it won't leave)
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To: V_TWIN

“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”


45 posted on 02/19/2026 7:12:08 AM PST by HYPOCRACY (Wake up, smell the cat food in your bank account. )
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To: PeterPrinciple

What did NY voters expect from a foreign mayor who is dumber than a box of rocks. Little does this clown know that it takes more than a speech with a big smile to make things happen.


46 posted on 02/19/2026 7:12:28 AM PST by chopperk (e)
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To: dfwgator

They’re waiting for Macy’s to declare bankruptcy and clear out.


47 posted on 02/19/2026 7:13:59 AM PST by xp38
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To: V_TWIN

Like West Bank “Palestinian” mobs swarming Hamas food trucks. Islam state run enterprises are not exactly consumer friendly.


48 posted on 02/19/2026 7:15:06 AM PST by blackdog (The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.)
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To: chopperk

What did NY voters expect from a foreign mayor who is dumber than a box of rocks. Little does this clown know that it takes more than a speech with a big smile to make things happen.


Some people learn by watching others, most have to pee on the electric fence on their own......................and even then, they don’t learn.


49 posted on 02/19/2026 7:16:21 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
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To: PeterPrinciple

yeah, I always feel like a sucker when I’m in line and I’m getting ready to pay and I look over and the guy in front of me has lobsters and candy and other nonsense, and whips out his EBT


50 posted on 02/19/2026 7:16:57 AM PST by MarlonRando
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To: MarlonRando

When I first moved from OR to CA 11 yrs ago I still had my bank debit card which had a picture of Mt Hood on the front and yellow color in the back. I would go into stores to buy retail items then pull out my card and the clerk would always say we don’t take EBT. I would have to explain to them that I had a OR bank card and then pay. I’m sure there were people behind me thinking I was buying hardware with my EBT card.


51 posted on 02/19/2026 7:21:59 AM PST by Pol-92064 (tax)
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To: V_TWIN

they could put dog crap in a can- if it was free people would still line up for it...


52 posted on 02/19/2026 7:22:00 AM PST by God luvs America
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To: V_TWIN

I think the film “Escape from New York” is becoming just as prophetic as “Idiocracy”!


53 posted on 02/19/2026 7:22:59 AM PST by TonyM (Score Event)
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To: V_TWIN

54 posted on 02/19/2026 7:22:59 AM PST by larrytown (I will not be rage-baited.)
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To: V_TWIN

Sounds like the grocery stores in Russia under the Soviet Union - standing in line for day (or a few days old) bread.


55 posted on 02/19/2026 7:23:09 AM PST by ro_dreaming (Who knew "Idiocracy", "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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To: Carry_Okie

56 posted on 02/19/2026 7:24:59 AM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: V_TWIN
"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."

Welcome to Communism. Now, enjoy the suck.

57 posted on 02/19/2026 7:30:50 AM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: V_TWIN

Communism’s motto is “A little pain is good for the soul.” Embrace the suck. You idiotic New Yawk Comrades aren’t in America anymore, Toto.


58 posted on 02/19/2026 7:32:26 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (**** ICE (Illegal Criminal Emigrants).)
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To: unixfox

The moral of the story is, if you want it bad enough....GET YOUR ASS UP EARLIER.


59 posted on 02/19/2026 7:32:50 AM PST by V_TWIN (America....so great even the people that hate it won't leave)
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To: unixfox

https://www.rbth.com/history/331276-lines-soviet-union

What things did people stand in line for in the USSR? (PHOTOS)


60 posted on 02/19/2026 7:34:51 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued, but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere)
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