New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he will move forward with a plan to launch five city-operated grocery stores, starting with one in East Harlem expected to open next year. The announcement came during a speech Sunday marking his first 100 days in office, the Washington Post reports. The mayor, a self-described democratic socialist, framed the initiative as part of a broader push to use government power to lower everyday costs for residents. "At our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheaper," Mamdani said. "Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation."
Mamdani said the first store will be built on city-owned property next to a food hall in East Harlem, a neighborhood where nearly 40% of residents receive public assistance. National chains including Aldi, Target, and Costco already operate nearby. He pledged to open one city-owned grocery in each of the other four boroughs by the end of his term in 2030, contending the stores will help counter high food prices. Mamdani told a gathering of supporters that he welcomes competition with private retailers. The mayor did not provide cost estimates for opening or running the stores, nor specifics on how prices would be kept below prevailing market rates.
In an earlier interview with the progressive outlet More Perfect Union, Mamdani said the city would contract with a private operator required to pass any public subsidy "directly to consumers in the form of savings." Similar publicly backed grocery efforts in places such as Kansas City, Missouri, and Florida have had mixed results, with some stores closing after financial losses and competition from large retailers. The proposal, unveiled during Mamdani's mayoral campaign, has drawn criticism from parts of the grocery industry. John Catsimatidis, a Republican who owns two supermarket chains in the New York City, has said city-owned stores could bring the "bread lines of the old Soviet Union," per the New York Times.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
