Did Walmart announce that it would shut down 23 "neighborhood markets" locations in New York City due to the "tax system Mamdani has planned"? No, that's not true: As of this writing, Walmart has no stores of any type in New York City. The earlier variations of the claim showed a satire label linking it to the self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, who publishes made-up stories aimed to trigger conservatives.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on November 9, 2025. It contained an image of a Walmart store and it read:
Walmart will close its 23 'Neighborhood Markets' in New York City:
'We'd have to double most of our prices to deal with the new Communist tax system Mamdani has planned.'
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at facebook.com/groups/596120844872119)
Contrary to the claim, Walmart had no functioning stores of any type in New York City, even before Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani was scheduled to be sworn in on January 1, 2026 (archived here). The absence was clearly seen on the company's website (archived here):
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of page at walmart.com/store-directory/ny)
The image of the supposed Walmart neighborhood market from the viral poster did not even show New York City. For one, it displayed a street sign of a kind not used in New York City: Signs here don't use such cardinal points as South or North.
Here is a close-up from the viral post:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at facebook.com/groups/596120844872119)
Here are real street signs from New York City, as seen on Google Maps here and here:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of Google Maps street view)
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of Google Maps street view)
According to TinEye, the image of the Walmart location from the post reviewed in this fact check has been online at least since mid-2014:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page at tineye.com)
A search of a store matching the address in the picture led to a Walmart Pharmacy in Chicago, Illinois (archived here), which was labeled as "permanently closed" on Google Maps as of November 11, 2025.
Unlike later, cropped variations of the claim (archived here), the earliest examples of prankster Blair's version of it still showed his standard disclaimer:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at facebook.com/groups/596120844872119)
"ALLOD" stands for "America's Last Line of Defense", a network of websites with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. It is run by Christoper Blair, also known as "Busta Troll", and a loose network of friends and allies. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
Previously, other false claims speculated about the purported flight of businesses from New York City due to the expected policies of the new mayor. For example, Lead Stories debunked the rumor about the purported relocation of the New York Stock Exchange and claims about the "nation's largest trucking company" claimed to have announced it would stop servicing New York City after Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani assumes the office.
