A coalition of small supermarket operators and bodega owners on Monday sued to block New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s government-run grocery stores, citing concerns that the discounted pricing system would reduce competition and harm their livelihoods.
The Multicultural Business Coalition filed lawsuits in the New York County Supreme Court challenging Mamdani on antitrust and predatory pricing grounds. The recently formed immigrant-led business group alleged that many members of the coalition “cannot compete with the municipal grocery stores, and therefore, will be put out of business” and urged the court to force the city to perform an economic analysis of the impact of Mamdani’s plan.
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MBC filed two lawsuits, including a class-action on behalf of “hundreds” of store owners who are “members of groups historically discriminated against,” according to the New York Post. A second lawsuit likened Mamdani’s plan to allowing Walmart to operate in the city, raising fears the discounted pricing “would eliminate an untold amount of opportunity for minority businesses and small business at large.” There are no Walmarts in New York City, due partly to concerns that the retail giant’s low prices would kill many small businesses.
“My grandfather opened up one of the first bodegas in the late 1960s when East Harlem was burning, and the A&Ps and Waldbaums were leaving,” MBC Chairman Frank Garcia said. “He established the first Latino Grocery Association to protect the rights of immigrant store owners. I am proud to be following up in his tradition because what Mayor Mamdani is doing is disgracing his memory.”
Garcia told the New York Post last year that he rebuffed a Mamdani-linked political action committee that offered him a job in the administration if he could raise up to $1 million for the mayor’s campaign.
MBC is composed of around 50 chambers of commerce representing “tens of millions of people” in New York City, including Asian, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Jewish-owned businesses.
Born out of opposition to Mamdani’s socialist-styled grocery proposal, the coalition has attracted increasing notice from officials in recent months, ranging from New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin’s office and New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to Coca-Cola vice president of public affairs Mayra Linares-Garcia.
MBC was sparked after Mamdani announced plans to spend $70 million in taxpayer funds to open five government-run grocery stores across the city. The stores will offer grocery staples such as fresh produce, meat, milk, cheese, and bread at a 30% discount to market rates. Mamdani believes the plan could save New Yorkers $1,000 a year, an estimate reached by the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Officials are seeking to recruit external operators to run the stores by offering free rent and subsidies.
The first store planned for the Bronx in Hunts Point is expected to open next year. A second Manhattan store in East Harlem is set to open in 2029.
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Mark Jaffe, who is legal counsel to MBC and president of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, recently said that the coalition has been asking to meet with Mamdani since May to resolve concerns and avoid a lawsuit.
“How can a Food Bazaar right across the street from La Marqueta not be affected by such discounts?” Jaffe said, referencing roughly 15 food bodegas and grocery stores within five blocks of La Marqueta in East Harlem, including a “considerable number of successful Hispanic and Korean-owned supermarkets.”
