A coalition of small supermarket operators and bodega owners on Monday sued to block New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s government-run grocery stores, citing concerns that the discounted pricing system would reduce competition and harm their livelihoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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 \u201ccannot compete with the municipal grocery stores, and therefore, will be put out of business\u201d and urged the court to force the city to perform an economic analysis of the impact of Mamdani\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
MBC filed two lawsuits, including a class-action on behalf of \u201chundreds\u201d of store owners who are \u201cmembers of groups historically discriminated against,\u201d according to the New York Post. A second lawsuit likened Mamdani\u2019s plan to allowing Walmart to operate in the city, raising fears the discounted pricing \u201cwould eliminate an untold amount of opportunity for minority businesses and small business at large.\u201d There are no Walmarts in New York City, due partly to concerns that the retail giant\u2019s low prices would kill many small businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 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,\u201d MBC Chairman Frank Garcia said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MBC is composed of around 50 chambers of commerce representing \u201ctens of millions of people\u201d in New York City, including Asian, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Jewish-owned businesses.<\/p>\n
Born out of opposition to Mamdani\u2019s socialist-styled grocery proposal, the coalition has attracted increasing notice from officials in recent months, ranging from New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin\u2019s office and New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to Coca-Cola vice president of public affairs Mayra Linares-Garcia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
TRUMP EYEING FEDERAL ACTION TO BLOCK MAMDANI\u2019S PIED-A-TERRE TAX TARGETING SECOND HOMES<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can a Food Bazaar right across the street from La Marqueta not be affected by such discounts?\u201d Jaffe said, referencing roughly 15 food bodegas and grocery stores within five blocks of La Marqueta in East Harlem, including a \u201cconsiderable number of successful Hispanic and Korean-owned supermarkets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A coalition of small supermarket operators and bodega owners on Monday sued to block New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s government-run grocery stores, citing concerns that the discounted pricing system would reduce competition and harm their livelihoods.\u00a0 The Multicultural Business Coalition filed lawsuits in the New York County Supreme Court challenging Mamdani on antitrust and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3963,3548,2568,2589,795,332,389,2567,9842,2571,2574],"class_list":["post-20282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-courts","tag-food-and-beverage","tag-grocery-store","tag-immigrants","tag-lawsuits","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-grocery-store","tag-small-businesses","tag-socialism","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117298519609655692","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}