![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1bf3636192ffe0dc29597e980f871c2905-GettyImages-2287242265.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Mayor Mamdani at a press conference for one of his campaign promises: city-run grocery stores.
\n Photo: Adam Gray\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Even if you\u2019re a believer in Zohran Mamdani\u2019s pilot plan for city-owned grocery stores, you may not be able to avoid the images that term conjures, of dingy gray Soviet commissaries or the scuffed linoleum of a 1980s DMV office. The branding for the mayor\u2019s new subsidized stores, though, is likely to be anything but. Those efforts are being led by a handful of firms big on dopamine-inducing zigzags, retro fonts, and zingy names. The people who will be working on the branding of New York\u2019s lightly subsidized eggs and milk are the same ones who gave us Graza olive oil<\/a> in its signature squeeze bottles and the psychedelic<\/a> Magic Spoon cereal boxes with wizards riding cartoon rabbits.<\/p>\n The design elements of those products were handled by Gander<\/a>, a Brooklyn firm that won New York\u2019s call to envision the look, feel, and branding for the city\u2019s five supermarkets, the first of which may open as early as next year. The request for proposals<\/a> came from the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which last week named<\/a> three other firms that will work under Gander: Noble Signs<\/a>, the shop that built the retro-looking exteriors of Radio Bakery and Upside Pizza and charmingly flipped Park Slope\u2019s \u201cWash\u201d into \u201cMash\u201d<\/a>; Librarie<\/a>, a consultant that specializes in copywriting and communications; and Seven Roots<\/a>, a Wisconsin company that builds independent grocery stores and co-ops. The mix makes sense: Noble Signs thinks about what retail looks like from the street and can help with way-finding placards that guide shoppers to their rice and beans. Librarie will tackle the challenge of giving the stores a name, since \u201cN.Y.C. Groceries\u201d is just a stand-in, and has expertise in navigating brand crises \u2014 such as opening a store in a political minefield. And Seven Roots can make sure this isn\u2019t all for show, advising on functional matters: aisle width, checkout flow, restocking procedures. Gander was cited for its \u201cdeep expertise in the grocery space,\u201d but apart from its branding work for products that end up on millennials\u2019 shelves, its experience is limited to Pop Up Grocer,<\/a> which builds spaces that feel like high-fashion boutiques designed to highlight odd products, including mushroom chocolates and antelope-liver supplements.<\/p>\n \n A view of the Bleecker Street location of Pop Up Grocer, which sells specialty products in a space that feels like a boutique. We don\u2019t know much more about the city stores yet except the locations \u2014 three of which are still being worked out<\/a> \u2014 and the opening dates. But a focus on design is typical for Mayor Mamdani, who campaigned<\/a> with graphics that evoked the hand-lettering of yesteryear, redesigned the keys to the city that were handed to Knicks players, and was praised<\/a> for the campaign around the World Cup, which included limited-edition jerseys that went viral and featured tiny pigeons, an addition the mayor personally insisted on<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, the focus on branding feels a little strange for a store that\u2019s built on a fundamental promise: to cut out middlemen and margins and get prices down. Cutesy branding in the shoppy-shop manner<\/a> could undermine that, implying that a fancy-looking jar of peanut butter would have cost less if the city hadn\u2019t spent money to make it fancy-looking. Or, as a redditor wrote<\/a> in response to the announcement, \u201cI\u2019d be shocked if this doesn\u2019t end up as something slightly cringe with graffiti murals of a bodega cat ordering a baceoneggandcheese from a pigeon while pizza rat waits for his chopped cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/cc22858dee700e97e5a45e48648d9c9443-pop-up-grocery.rhorizontal.w700.png\")
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\n Photo: Google Maps\n <\/p>\n