{"id":313094,"date":"2026-08-04T02:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/313094\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T02:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T02:44:10","slug":"mamdanis-city-owned-grocery-stores-wont-ask-for-id-meaning-non-new-yorkers-can-buy-cheap-goods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/313094\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani’s city-owned grocery stores won’t ask for ID \u2014 meaning non-New Yorkers can buy cheap goods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s promised city-owned grocery stores\u00a0<\/a>won\u2019t require ID from shoppers, his administration confirmed Monday \u2014 allowing non-New Yorkers to take advantage of the discounted goods.<\/p>\n

The five planned taxpayer-subsidized stores \u2014 which are set to sell a \u201ccore basket of goods\u201d at 30% below retail prices<\/a> \u2014 will offer a free, voluntary membership card program, though documents show it will not require a residency check.<\/p>\n

Mamdani administration officials revealed the membership program last week when facing questions from reporters about how they\u2019d stop bad actors from buying in bulk and taking advantage of the deals on offer.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaking at a press conference on discounts at the planned city-run grocery stores in Brooklyn on July 27, 2026. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

A \u201ccore basket of goods\u201d will be for sale at 30% below retail prices. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

The officials insisted they were focused on offering discounts to \u201cevery day New Yorkers\u201d despite the savings card being a voluntary program and not a requirement to enter the store.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking to make sure that we target New Yorkers whether it be a sort of library card-esque thing and also we manage who\u2019s buying and that it is focused on everyday New Yorkers,\u201d Jeanny Pak, the interim president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, said on July 27.<\/p>\n

The admin\u2019s \u201crequest for proposal\u201d documents seeking contact offers from businesses interested in operating the stores provide additional information on the \u201csavings card program,\u201d including that it must be \u201cmade easily available to any individual requesting\u201d it, and does not require proof of residency, contrary to reports.<\/p>\n

The Mamdani administration won\u2019t require customers to provide an ID or prove they are New York City residents at the city-run grocery stores. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

An administration spokesperson said the program would function like a normal supermarket loyalty card to be designed by the private operator of the store to help manage supply and prevent re-selling.<\/p>\n

\u201cNYC Grocery stores will be open to everyone. There will be no system to verify identity, residency, or income, and no one will be asked to show ID to shop,\u201d the City Hall rep confirmed in a statement to The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani has earmarked $70 million for construction<\/a> of the city-owned supermarkets, and has vowed to open one in each borough.<\/p>\n

Only two out of the five\u00a0promised stores have specific locations finalized so far, and the first one, in Hunts Point, The Bronx, won\u2019t open until at least 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s promised city-owned grocery stores\u00a0won\u2019t require ID from shoppers, his administration confirmed Monday \u2014 allowing non-New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[275,302,57,9,24,55,54,56,9936,58,82],"class_list":["post-313094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bodega","tag-city-hall","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-supermarkets","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313094","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=313094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}