Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan for city-owned supermarkets is taking shape, with the administration announcing that the five stores will offer a 30 percent discount on a “core basket” of healthy groceries, including produce, meat, seafood, pasta, bread, yogurt, butter, nuts, rice, and beans.
The discount could save shoppers about $90 per month or roughly $1,000 per year, according to an analysis by the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The stores will sell other products at regular market prices.
“Every week, New Yorkers walk into a grocery store hoping the prices haven’t gone up again,” Mamdani said in a statement. “A trip to the grocery store shouldn’t spell dread for New Yorkers”.
The city is moving to select private operators to run the five city-owned stores, one in each borough. The city will build the stores and waive rent and property taxes. It is also expected to provide an operating subsidy to help pay for the discounts.
The Plan and Locations
Mamdani has pledged to open one city-owned grocery store in each of New York City’s five boroughs. The first store is set to open in Hunts Point in the Bronx at The Peninsula, an affordable housing complex, as early as 2027. The second location will be in East Harlem at La Marqueta, a historic marketplace, with a projected opening by 2029.
The city has estimated that establishing all five stores will cost approximately $70 million.
The plan has drawn scrutiny from the City Council, which must approve funding. Council Speaker Julie Menin has raised concerns about how city-owned grocery stores could affect existing bodegas and neighborhood supermarkets. The administration has also faced criticism for not conducting a study on the plan’s potential impact on small businesses.
Business Opposition
Independent grocers and bodega owners have voiced strong opposition to the plan. They argue that city-run stores, with subsidized pricing, could undercut private businesses that operate on razor-thin profit margins of just 1 to 2 percent.
Francisco Marte, a Bronx bodega owner, told the Gothamist, “It’s unfair. They are using our tax money to compete with us”.
A coalition of business owners has built up a $1 million war chest to oppose the initiative, and the Multicultural Business Coalition has signaled it may initiate legal action.
Administration’s Response
Mamdani officials have pushed back against these criticisms, arguing the stores are not intended to replace private businesses but to fill gaps in food access where the market has failed. The city has said the stores will not sell items like lottery tickets or tobacco, distinguishing them from bodegas.
Administration officials have held meetings with trade groups, though some business owners have said the outreach has been insufficient. Julie Su, deputy mayor for economic justice, told The Post that the city was asking bodega owners about their key products “so they could help us plan and ensure that we take into account their challenges and their role as a part of the food ecosystem”.
However, bodega reps have expressed frustration, saying the questions were “intrusive” and that the city has not provided enough transparency. Avi Kaner, former co-owner of the Morton Williams grocery store chain, told The Post that grocers need to know exactly how the city plans to avoid displacing existing businesses.
The Bottom Line
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan for five city-run grocery stores will offer a 30 percent discount on staples like produce, meat, bread, and milk. The first store is set to open in the Bronx in 2027, with another in East Harlem by 2029. The $70 million plan has drawn fierce opposition from local business owners, who fear competition from subsidized stores. The administration has not conducted a study on the plan’s impact on small businesses, and a coalition of business groups is raising funds to fight the proposal.
