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<\/a>The city will construct the 9,000-square-foot East Harlem store from the ground up and expects it to open by 2029. The Mamdani administration anticipates opening the first city-owned grocery store in late 2027. The Mayor plans to open one store in each borough by the end of his first term.<\/p>\n
Grocery prices in New York City have risen\u00a0nearly 66% over the past decade<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 significantly outpacing the national average. The city-owned grocery initiative is designed to lower costs on everyday staples by using public ownership to eliminate costs that are currently passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n City-owned grocery initiative<\/p>\n The initiative aims to deliver affordable, high-quality groceries that provide meaningful savings to New Yorkers and strengthen neighborhood food access citywide. Mayor Mamdani has allocated $70 million in capital funds for the development of the five sites.<\/p>\n Related Article: First Municipal Grocery Store Opens in Downtown Atlanta<\/p>\n \u201cWhen corporations control every part of the food supply chain, prices go up, basic necessities become luxuries and workers and customers both lose,\u201d said\u00a0Mayor Mamdani. \u201cA public option allows us to intervene where the market has failed. We cannot accept a status quo where even the most fundamental needs \u2014 putting food on the table \u2014 feel out of reach. This is about ensuring that every New Yorker, regardless of income or ZIP code, has access to fresh, healthy food at a price they can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the model, the City will own the land and cover overhead costs like rent and construction. A private operator, selected through a request for proposals, will manage daily operations and be contractually required to pass savings directly to customers on a core basket of everyday staples.<\/p>\n \u201cEconomic justice means making sure the basic necessities of life \u2014 starting with food \u2014 are affordable and accessible in every borough,\u201d said\u00a0Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. \u201cThe city-owned grocery stores initiative is a centerpiece of our economic justice agenda because it addresses affordability, worker dignity, and neighborhood vitality all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe health and well-being of New Yorkers are dependent on their ability to access affordable, nutritious foods,\u201d said\u00a0NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Helen Arteaga. \u201cThe opening of a city-owned grocery store \u2014 the first of five \u2014 is a monumental step toward addressing the cost-of-living crisis, improving public health, and creating a more dignified and equitable city for all New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n NYC Groceries Task Force<\/p>\n The administration also announced the creation of an NYC Groceries Task Force led by Deputy Mayor Su and Deputy Mayor Arteaga. The task force will convene City agencies, industry experts and local small business owners to guide implementation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis initiative is about making sure families in my district can buy fresh, affordable food right in their own neighborhood, food that reflects the cultures and traditions of the people who live here,\u201d said\u00a0Council Member Elsie Encarnacion.\u201cI\u2019m thankful to Mayor Mamdani and his administration for choosing East Harlem as the first site, and for recognizing how important it is to invest in neighborhoods like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI commend Mayor Mamdani for taking this important step to expand access to healthy, affordable food in Manhattan,\u201d said\u00a0Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal. \u201cIn East Harlem, we see the health consequences of limited access every day-from higher rates of diabetes to heart disease-and the selection of La Marqueta builds on its historic role as a vital neighborhood food hub.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFood is a basic human right and no one should have to work more than one job to afford to put dinner on the table,\u201d said\u00a0Council Member Yusef Salaam. \u201cNo child should go hungry and no parent should have to worry about where the next meal will come from. The opening of a municipal grocery store by Mayor Mamdani in East Harlem to serve Harlemites and upper Manhattanites is a significant step toward fighting food insecurity in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we take the first major step in delivering New York City\u2019s first public grocery stores and NYCEDC is proud to work with Mayor Mamdani and his administration in delivering these public stores that will help address food insecurity and affordability while ensuring good paying, quality jobs and a dignified, enjoyable shopping experience for New Yorkers,\u201d said\u00a0NYCEDC Interim President & CEO Jeanny Pak. \u201cWe look forward to working together with our agency partners and engaging with the East Harlem community on the next steps of development for this public grocery store that will be of great benefit to East Harlem, surrounding communities, and New Yorkers at large.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Administration seeks ways to lower the cost of groceries for New Yorkers, we look forward to working with it to make sure these stores deliver for families and workers alike,\u201d said\u00a0Stuart Appelbaum, President of RWDSU and Executive VP of UFCW.<\/p>\n La Marqueta<\/p>\n Situated in the heart of East Harlem<\/a>, NYCEDC operates La Marqueta as one of its six public markets<\/a>. The site supports more than 20 small businesses and 120 workers, including restaurants, art vendors, and community organizations.<\/p>\n Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia opened the site in 1936 as the Park Avenue Retail Market to bring East Harlem\u2019s predominantly Jewish and Italian pushcart vendors under one roof. He intended the market to expand affordable access to fresh food for working-class New Yorkers. As waves of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, and Mexican immigrants transformed the neighborhood into Spanish Harlem in the following decades, the market evolved and became \u201cLa Marqueta.\u201d<\/p>\n Mayor Mamdani\u2019s decision to site New York City\u2019s first public grocery store at La Marqueta continues that legacy: using public infrastructure to deliver affordable food to working class New Yorkers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor Julie Su and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-197327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197327","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=197327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}