The city has started the process of picking private operators to handle day-to-day operations of the shops. The administration will provide storefronts while covering rental costs and property taxes, officials said. Mamdani campaigned on the proposal as a plank in a wider affordability platform centered on shifting the power of government toward policies to help the city’s struggling working class. At one point last year, he framed the idea as a modest experiment and said if it doesn’t work, “C’est la vie, then the idea was wrong.”
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Still, the plan has rankled some smaller grocers and owners of the city’s ubiquitous bodega corner stores, who worry they won’t be able to compete with discounted food prices at the city-run shops.
At his news conference, Mamdani said the city-owned stores would not sell hot food or other items like beer or cigarettes, as a way to avoid sapping away profitable business from private stores. “We are not looking to compete with bodegas or grocery stores when it comes to their ability to survive. What we’re looking to do is to provide affordability that is guaranteed to New Yorkers,” he said.
