{"id":195503,"date":"2026-04-13T15:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195503\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T15:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:15:07","slug":"mamdani-announces-plan-to-open-nycs-first-city-run-grocery-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195503\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani announces plan to open NYC’s first city-run grocery store"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> announced his plan to open the first city-run grocery store in East Harlem as he commemorated his first 100 days in office with a speech on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The announcement marks the socialist\u2019s first step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to open a government-owned grocery store in each of New York City\u2019s<\/a> five boroughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,\u201d Mamdani said at a rally in Queens. \u201cAt our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first store will be located at La Marqueta, a marketplace owned by the city\u2019s government and located under elevated train tracks in a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Manhattan. The mayor wants the city to pay $30 million for building the first store, which is expected to open by the end of 2027. That amount accounts for almost half of the city\u2019s $70 million initiative to lower food costs.<\/p>\n

While campaigning last year, Mamdani estimated five stores could cost up to $60 million per year to operate, but experts anticipate those costs could exceed $100 million annually.<\/p>\n

NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin plans to review the proposal and its economic effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs our city confronts ongoing fiscal and affordability crises, the City Council is identifying responsible solutions to lower costs and address food insecurity,\u201d said Jack Lobel, a spokesman for Menin. \u201cSpeaker Menin looks forward to receiving details on the Mayor\u2019s proposal and assessing its potential impacts on consumers and local small businesses, including bodegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani plans to open all five stores by the end of his term in December 2029.<\/p>\n

While the mayor delivered his 100-day address at the concert venue, Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-VT) made a surprise appearance. The fellow progressive called Mamdani\u2019s pursuit of opening five city-run grocery stores \u201cjust another example of government working for the people,\u201d suggesting that the\u00a0Trump administration<\/a>\u00a0does not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that the mayor has been criticized. Some say this is a radical idea,\u201d Sanders said to applause<\/a> from the crowd. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what is a radical idea: Giving tax breaks to billionaires, throwing people off healthcare. That\u2019s radical. What\u2019s radical is starting a terrible war. That\u2019s radical. But providing affordable food to working families, that\u2019s not radical. It\u2019s exactly the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

MAMDANI ACKNOWLEDGES \u2018TROUBLING\u2019 JOB NUMBERS WHILE HE PUSHES FOR HIGHER TAXES<\/a><\/p>\n

Polymarket opened a free pop-up grocery store<\/a> in New York City for five days in February. The move was seen as a slight against Mamdani\u2019s grocery store proposal. The prediction market had a bet<\/a> that Mamdani would open the first shop by June 30.<\/p>\n

The planned city-run grocery stores are not intended to be free. They are designed to be a public option for customers who may not be able to afford premium wholesale prices for food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced his plan to open the first city-run grocery store in East…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5057,65860,9,24,56,63,65,64,1211,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-195503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-bernie-sanders","9":"tag-food-and-beverage","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-ny","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-nyc-headlines","15":"tag-nyc-news","16":"tag-socialism","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}