New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani 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.
The announcement marks the socialist’s first step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to open a government-owned grocery store in each of New York City’s five boroughs.
“We’re going to make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,” Mamdani said at a rally in Queens. “At our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheaper.”
The first store will be located at La Marqueta, a marketplace owned by the city’s 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’s $70 million initiative to lower food costs.
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.
NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin plans to review the proposal and its economic effects.
“As our city confronts ongoing fiscal and affordability crises, the City Council is identifying responsible solutions to lower costs and address food insecurity,” said Jack Lobel, a spokesman for Menin. “Speaker Menin looks forward to receiving details on the Mayor’s proposal and assessing its potential impacts on consumers and local small businesses, including bodegas.”
Mamdani plans to open all five stores by the end of his term in December 2029.
While the mayor delivered his 100-day address at the concert venue, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made a surprise appearance. The fellow progressive called Mamdani’s pursuit of opening five city-run grocery stores “just another example of government working for the people,” suggesting that the Trump administration does not.
“I know that the mayor has been criticized. Some say this is a radical idea,” Sanders said to applause from the crowd. “I’ll tell you what is a radical idea: Giving tax breaks to billionaires, throwing people off healthcare. That’s radical. What’s radical is starting a terrible war. That’s radical. But providing affordable food to working families, that’s not radical. It’s exactly the right thing to do.”
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Polymarket opened a free pop-up grocery store in New York City for five days in February. The move was seen as a slight against Mamdani’s grocery store proposal. The prediction market had a bet that Mamdani would open the first shop by June 30.
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.