Mamdani Unveils UES Site as First Grocery Store to be Run by NYC

Mayor Zohran Mamdani journeyed to East Harlem on April 14 to visit La Marqueta marketplace, which he says will be the site of the first city-run grocery store when it opens in 2029.

Mamdani formally made the announcement on April 12, while celebrating his first 100 days in office, saying La Marqueta will be the first of five city-run grocery stores. The plan is to open one store in each borough by the end of the mayor’s term.

The mayor has earmarked $70 million in capital funds for the project, which will be privately run but partially subsidized by the city. Opening city-owned grocery stores was one of his well publicized campaign platforms during the 2025 mayoral election campaign to help lower food costs for lower income residents especially those in so-called “supermarket deserts.”

But the plan has not been without controversy as some critics argue that the first site selected is not really a “supermarket desert” since four or five other supermarkets are within several blocks. And some local business owners argue that publicly subsidized stores will undercut existing businesses.

Under the plan, Mamdani said “the city will subsidize a core set of staples. A private operator will run the store, but they 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.”

During the visit, Mamdani referenced La Marqueta’s start; the market was founded in 1936 by then-Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who called it an “experiment.”

”New York City, it is time for a grand experiment once again,” Mamdani said standing outside La Marqueta with other elected officials including Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal, city council members, Elsie Encarnacion and Yusef Salaam, as well as the director of Uptown Grand Central, Carey King, interim president of the Economic Development Corp Jeanny Pak and deputy mayor Julie Su.

“Just as La Guardia 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.

”Now, some will insist that city-owned businesses do not work; the government cannot keep up with corporations,” Mamdani said. “My answer to them is simple: I look forward to the competition.”

La Marqueta, which operates under the Metro-North tracks and stretches from 110^th St. to 116^th St. along Park Ave., was originally created to move Jewish, Italian, and Irish pushcart vendors indoors in an effort to improve sanitary conditions in the area.

Food costs in the New York City metropolitan area rose by 56.2 percent between 2012-2013 and 2022-2023, more than the national increase of 46.4 percent, according to a 2024 report by the New York State Comptroller’s Office.

”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,” Mamdani said.

The plan has the city owning the supermarket land and covering overhead costs like rent. A third-party vendor will manage the day-to-day operation and will be contractually obligated to pass savings directly to consumers, according to information posted on the mayor’s website.

The mayor said the city-run stores will not sell tobacco products or lottery tickets.

Nevin Cohen, director of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, told Straus News that while government has been in the food retail business for 100 years, “few cities, and none as large as New York, have operated municipally owned and operated supermarkets. For this reason, the city will contract with a supermarket operator to run the first store at La Marqueta. Ensuring that the pricing and selection of products meets the needs of the surrounding community will be key to its success.”

New York City currently oversees six public food markets, where vendors rent space for below-market rates, as well as supermarket incentive programs, green carts and greenmarkets on public land, and healthy food incentive programs. And Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, is the site of one of the U.S. military’s 250 supermarket commissaries run by the Defense Department.

The success of the program is critical, says Cohen, because “food insecurity, not having the resources for adequate and nutritious food, affects about 14% of New Yorkers.”

He says 1 in 5 New Yorkers relies on federal SNAP benefits, and rising food prices, as well as cuts to SNAP, are likely to increase food insecurity. Low-income New Yorkers spend about one third of their income on food, Cohen says.

Critics say the planned city markets will hurt small business.

“They are going to hurt us more than they are going to help,” Fernando Mateo, spokesperson for United Bodegas of America, told CBS News. “Bodega owners are not ripping people off. We’re not charging excessively for anything; what we need is help from you, mayor, not competition.”

”These stores are going to get jam packed, they’re only four or five in the entire city of 8 million people,” Fernando told ABC News. “What do you expect is going to happen? You’re going to have people rushing to these stores early in the morning to late at night, waiting on long lines. You know, it’s going to be more turmoil than anything else. It’s a great punch line for him and for the socialist movement. But New York is not a socialist city.”