Socialist Mamdani touts government-run grocery plan as ‘grand experiment’' at grocery new site

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke at one of his proposed government-run grocery stores on Tuesday, touting what he described as a "grand experiment" that would reduce the cost of everyday items like bread and eggs.

The socialist mayor, who has promised to open one such store in each borough, said the city will subsidize basic grocery items while a private operator runs the stores under city rules requiring lower prices.

"New York City it is time for a grand experiment once again, just as LaGuardia used government to respond to the challenges of the Great Depression, we will use government to respond to rising prices and unaffordable groceries," Mamdani said at La Marqueta in East Harlem on Tuesday.

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The 9,000-square-foot store in East Harlem will be constructed from the ground up on a nearby vacant, city-owned lot and is expected to open by 2029, while the first city-owned grocery store is expected to open in late 2027. Mamdani has allocated $70 million in capital funds for the development of the five sites.

The Harlem grocery store will cost $30 million to build, according to the New York Times.

Mamdani invoked former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, noting the site once housed a city-run market created during the Great Depression to lower food costs.

"Now, here's how it works. The city will subsidize a core set of staples. A private operator will run the store, but the answer to the standards that the city will set these standards include requirements that at our stores, bread will be cheaper, eggs will be cheaper, grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation, and workers will be treated with dignity," Mamdani said.

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Mamdani said grocery prices in New York City have risen nearly 66% over the past decade, 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, he said.

"The difference in this approach is that we are not hoping for affordability. We're guaranteeing affordability in the contract we will have with a private operator," Mamdani said.

"Now, at its peak, La Marqueta serves 25,000 customers per day. We hope to make a similar impact here in this very neighborhood," Mamdani said. "Continuing Fiorello LaGuardia legacy. This is what we mean by a new era when New Yorkers are being priced out of their groceries. Government will step in and deliver affordability," he added.

Mamdani said the city-run stores would be part of a broader "ecosystem" and would not replace existing grocers, including bodegas and neighborhood supermarkets, amid questions about their impact on small businesses.