Zohran Mamdani Reveals Where First City-Owned Grocery Store Will Open
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered an address to mark his first 100 days in office, during which he revealed that he plans to open the first city-owned grocery store in East Harlem.
Mamdani said the store would be built at La Marqueta, a city-owned marketplace under elevated train tracks – the same market opened by Fiorello La Guardia for a similar goal of helping bring cheaper grocery prices.
“Now, some will insist that city-owned businesses do not work, that government cannot keep up with corporations,” Mamdanis said. “My answer to them is simple: I look forward to the competition. May the most affordable grocery store win.”
The mayor plans to open the store next year, and he is aiming to open all five of the stores – one in each borough – by the end of his first term in 2029. The New York Times reported that he plans to spend roughly $30 million on the project.
“We hold a mighty responsibility, not just to govern with honesty and integrity, not just deliver relentless improvement,” Mamdani said. “We have the responsibility of proving that government is worthy of the people it serves. Our best days lie before us.”
Why It Matters
Mamdani set a goal of opening at least one city-run grocery store in each borough in an effort to make grocery prices more affordable. The stores - which would operate without paying rent or taxes - could fundamentally reshape competition, potentially threatening the viability of private enterprises like Gristedes and D'Agostino's.
He framed the initiative as a public option for groceries, designed to counter rising food prices and persistent food deserts across New York City. Under the plan, the city would open at least one municipal grocery store in every borough, prioritizing neighborhoods with limited access to full‑service supermarkets.
His campaign estimated the program's cost at $60 million, funded largely by redirecting existing subsidies New York already provides to private supermarket operators. Additional revenue, Mamdani argues, would come from tax increases on corporations and high‑income earners.
What To Know
Mamdani announced the grocery stores after saying he planned to carry out an overhaul of infrastructure across the city, including major street upgrades and expanding bike lanes and pedestrian spaces across Manhattan.
He also highlighted the spread of childcare centers in Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, which Mamdani said would “deliver … the change that democratic socialism can deliver.”
However, the climax of the speech centered on the building of the five city-owed grocery stores, which Mamdani said would be “where prices are fair, where workers are treated with dignity, and where New Yorkers can actually afford to shop.”
“At our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheeper. Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation,” Mamdani said. “One of those stores will be at La Marqueta in El Barrio – the same market that Fiora LaGuardia opened in 1936 so working people then could save money on fruits and vegetables. We will continue his legacy.”
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders – a major supporter of Mamdani – made a surprise appearance at the speech, entering to “Back in Black” by AC/DC and cheers from the crowd. He specifically addressed the city-owned grocery store plan, praising it as the kind of plan and policy needed at a time when affordability remains the chief crisis in the country.
“Today’s announcement by the mayor of new city run grocery stores is just another example of government working for the people,” Sanders said.
“I know that the mayor has been criticized some say this is a radical idea,” Sanders continued. “I’ll tell you what is a radical idea: Giving tax breaks to billionaires; throwing people off health care. 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.”
Sanders departed the stage after making his stump to support not just the grocery store plan but urging more policies focused on providing better, cheaper food to people across the country.
“Working-class people die at a significantly younger age than the elderly has to do with diet,” Sanders said. “Working people, low-income people, cannot afford the decent quality food that their kids and the whole family need, and the result of that is all across this country.”
After Sanders departed, Mamdani praised the former Burlington mayor for his work in Vermont, adding: “One day, Bernie, you’ll have to tell me what a surplus is.”
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This story was originally published April 12, 2026 at 7:53 PM.