{"id":307372,"date":"2026-07-28T04:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/307372\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T04:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T04:10:08","slug":"mamdani-announces-plans-to-subsidized-food-with-city-owned-grocery-stores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/307372\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani announces plans to subsidized food with city-owned grocery stores"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s<\/a> socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> announced Monday the city will open five government-owned food stores by 2029 and will offer a 30% discount on bread and cheese as well as \u201ca core basket of everyday groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The promise of city-owned grocery stores was a marquee pledge in Mr. Mamdani\u2019s shock 2025 campaign win. He said on Monday the new stores would offer cheaper food to combat rising prices for New York City\u2019s<\/a> lower-income residents, but anyone will be allowed to shop at the government stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first store will open at the end of 2027 in a low-income neighborhood in the Bronx<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eggs, milk, seafood, chicken, fruit and vegetables will be offered at a 30% discount below retail prices, along with other \u201ccritical\u201d groceries, including cheese and bread, the mayor said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr. Mamdani said the city has set aside $70 million to build the stores. \u00a0<\/p>\n

City government, Mr. Mamdani said, \u201cis stepping in to make people\u2019s lives more affordable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Critics immediately bashed the idea.<\/p>\n

Joseph Hernandez, a Republican candidate for New York State Comptroller, said grocery stores operate off a very small profit margin of 1% to 3%, and that Mr. Mamdani\u2019s promised discount will result in millions in lost revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re promising 30% off,\u201d Mr. Hernandez said in response to Mr. Mamdani. \u201cThat gap doesn\u2019t vanish. Taxpayers cover it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new stores, he said, would put neighborhood bodegas out of business by selling well below retail prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t affordability. It\u2019s a tax hike disguised as a discount and a private business killer affecting mostly hard working Hispanic immigrants just trying to do the right thing and make a living,\u201d Mr. Hernandez posted on social media.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mamdani framed the plan as one that would offer both affordability and stability for consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that once per month, the five grocery stores will set prices for the core set of goods at 30% below \u201ctypical\u201d retail prices. The prices will remain unchanged for the entire month, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means no weekly fluctuations, nor sticker shock at the checkout line,\u201d Mr. Mamdani announced at a press conference staged in a Brooklyn food pantry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mayor described the new grocery stores as a first-of-its kind model. The stores would be privately operated but with requirements that those running the stores lower prices, improve access and meet standards for \u201cquality and accountability\u201d that will be guided by a city-run, interagency task force.<\/p>\n

Jobs must also be paid with \u201cfamily sustaining wages and benefits,\u201d and a commitment to allow workers to organize.<\/p>\n

The city has issued a request for \u201cqualified grocers or firms\u201d to apply to run the stores.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bodega owners are opposed to the stores and say by undercutting retail prices, the mayor will put them out of business.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mamdani said his proposals will not steal all of the bodega customers because the government-run stores won\u2019t have butchers or sell hot food, beer or cigarettes.<\/p>\n

Government-run stores opened in recent years in Baldwin, Florida and Erie, Kansas but eventually closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In September, the city of Atlanta helped fund the opening of Azalea Fresh Market, a municipal grocery store in the downtown area, which city officials described as \u201ca collaborative effort\u201d between the government, community members and independent grocers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the city will open five government-owned food stores by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-307372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307372","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=307372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}