NYC Grocers Sue Mamdani Over $70 Million Store Plan as City Promises Prices 30% Lower
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 3
NYC Grocers Sue Mamdani Over $70 Million Store Plan as City Promises Prices 30% Lower
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 3
Summary
A group of New York City grocers has sued Mayor Zohran Mamdani, arguing his plan for five city-backed grocery stores would use public money to create competitors small businesses cannot match.
Mamdani has committed $70 million to the effort, with stores on city-owned property avoiding rent and property taxes so they can sell groceries about 30% below comparable retailers.
One proposed store is slated to open next year at La Marqueta in East Harlem, where the city is expected to spend about $30 million on a site two blocks from Little Mexico, a family-run market opened in 1997.
Independent grocers say they have already survived COVID-19, rising rents and big-box competition, but fear a taxpayer-backed rival could force neighborhood stores to close.
The lawsuit becomes an early test of Mamdani's broader affordability agenda, which would put government-run stores into direct competition with private retailers across all five boroughs.