The line on Thursday outside 137 Seventh Avenue South for a branding stunt.
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
On Thursday afternoon, about 300 people in a mix of puffer coats and fleeces shuffled in place on a line that snaked south along Seventh Avenue to West 10th Street, wrapped around Julius’ and circled back — an Ouroborous. A woman walking by carrying a yoga mat asked what was happening. “It’s a free grocery store,” said a bouncer by the door. Inside, shelves were stocked with Bounty paper towels and Barilla pasta. But something was psychically off, like a Claude rendering of a bodega. The space was too clean, too empty. Plus the olive oil was Kirkland. The milk was being unloaded from Aldi bags. And reporters were snapping pictures of bananas as if they were conceptual pieces by Maurizio Cattelan.
Kirkland oil and rolls of plastic bags that didn’t fit on the holders showed this wasn’t a typical grocery.
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
The prediction market platform Polymarket had announced it was building “New York’s first free grocery store” just a week earlier — a marketing stunt that latched on to Mayor Mamdani’s promise to build nonprofit grocery stores. (The Polymarket shop was temporary — up only through Sunday as a store, then open for one more day to collect food donations.) But why Polymarket? Because of the word market within Polymarket, per Josh Tucker, a company executive. Get it? Daf Orlovsky, a creative director, said it could work — “these ideas that don’t seem possible could be brought to life at tech-market speed,” he said.
The event was pushed back, leaving hundreds out in the cold for two more hours, to make way for late deliveries.
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
“Tech-market speed” would turn out to be two hours later than scheduled, as deliveries loaded in past the people waiting on the planned opening time of noon. And what about those people — dedicated gamblers? No. “I don’t know it,” said Rosa, a home attendant from Queens. “I’m not a gambler. I never had any luck,” said Valentina, a 51-year old who took the train in from Bensonhurst. Her luck had failed her again — at least for today. She arrived too late to get into the store and was sent home with a tote bag and a promise she could be first in the door tomorrow.
Toni Hall, at the front of the line, told a story of waking up at 3 a.m. to get on line by 6 a.m. A train of reporters soon followed — including a woman who covers crypto markets for a Chinese language site. (Polymarket is an exclusively crypto platform.) After the doors opened, Hall grabbed Hanes socks and Tide Pods, Bounty paper towels, and popcorn — a haul she valued at $120. She had put in nearly 11 hours — “totally worth it,” she said. As for whether she would try to place a bet with Polymarket, she seemed thrown by the question. “I didn’t hear about Polymarket,” she said. “But this is what was needed, so why does it matter who did it?”
Toni Hall, first in line, arrived at 6 a.m. and got interviewed by a parade of journalists.
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
The line snaked around the block by 1 p.m.
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
Aidan Shechter, the platform’s 23-year-old spokesperson, seemed unfazed. They have no reason to recruit, he told me. The platform isn’t even accepting new members at the moment. (Though, he clarified, “Polymarket is fully functional and regulated to operate in the U.S.”) If people were just there for some free groceries, that was great, he said; the whole thing was a “philanthropic-first initiative.” (A recent report from Columbia University found that 40 percent of families in the city struggle to afford their weekly groceries, though it is unclear what impact a weeklong stunt from Polymarket will have on those numbers.) As to whether Polymarket is engaging in brand-washing against the negative perception of gambling as addictive and destructive to, well, most people, Tucker called the view “cynical.” “We’re not here to comment on the industry. Today is about this achievement.” (Polymarket, which was valued at around $9 billion last October, will also donate $1 million to the Food Bank for New York City.)
A Polymarket competitor, Kalshi, had recently put on a similar stunt in the East Village, giving out $50 gift cards to a Westside Market. Orlovsky, who seemed very pleased with the pop-up, welcomed more copycats, he said. “God forbid the CEO of another company sees this and thinks, We should do this on a bigger scale,” he said. He pointed to a billboard further south on Seventh Avenue — an ad for Chat GPT. “What’s that even doing?” he asked.
Polymarket-branded flowers, for free.
Photo: Adriane Quinlan
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