New York City grocers are lobbying Council Speaker Julie Menin to oppose Mayor Mamdani’s plan to open city-run grocery stores — and are optimistic that she’ll take their side after she issued a cool response to the controversial proposal earlier this week, The Post has learned.
The grocers are fast-tracking outreach to the Manhattan Dem and other Council members, who are expected to get a vote on whether to fund Mamdani’s plan that calls for $30 million for one grocery store alone, insiders said.
“This is just five days old but we are doing what we can to reach [Council members] to say, ‘Hey, let’s discuss what’s impacting existing food stores,’” said Mike Durant, chief executive of the Food Industry Alliance of New York, which represents 3,000 grocery stores.
Local grocers were floored by the democratic socialist mayor’s Sunday announcement that the city would open one of five grocery stores at La Marqueta in East Harlem — and they view the plan as unnecessary, taxpayer-funded competition in a brutal business.
There are already five grocery stores within two blocks of the proposed site on Park Avenue near East 115th Street — and 15 within five blocks — according to the National Supermarket Association.
“We expected the Council to line up behind the mayor on this issue,” said one local Bronx grocer, Carlos Collado.
Menin gave a noncommittal statement, instead.
“As our city confronts ongoing fiscal and affordability crises, the City Council is identifying responsible solutions to lower costs and address food insecurity,” her office said.
The “City Council Speaker looks forward to receiving details on the mayor’s proposal and assessing its potential impacts on consumers and local small businesses, including bodegas.”
Menin’s office declined to comment beyond that statement.
The local food industry believes it could have an ally in Menin since she used to be a small business owner herself, running Vine restaurant in lower Manhattan until it was badly damaged on 9/11. She also founded a non-profit advocacy group, Wall Street Rising, to help small businesses in the area in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
The grocery store at La Marqueta won’t open until 2029, according to Mamdani’s office, but the city is expected to issue a request for proposals as soon as June for someone to operate the site, sources said. Grocers believe they have just weeks to rally local pols to their cause.
“We are actively holding meetings with borough presidents and we put in a request this week to meet with the speaker,” said Anthony Pena, a supermarket owner and president of the National Supermarket Association.
The first city-run grocery store is set to open in one of the outer boroughs sometime next year, according to the mayor’s office. Mamdani has released few details about his plan, one of the far-left campaign promises that saw him to an upset election victory last year.
He said Tuesday that the city would offer lower prices on a “core” group of staples, like bread, milk and eggs.
New York City Economic Development Corporation reps told Pena at a recent meeting that city-owned stores would offer a roughly 30% discount on 100 items, he told The Post.
“We know our neighborhoods and businesses better than anyone,” Pena said.
City Hall should “speak to the experts first and maybe it wouldn’t look so foolish putting $30 million figure out there,” he added.
Meanwhile, Pena said the owner of the City Fresh Market, located just two blocks from La Marqueta, asked him if he should sell his business.
Bill Cook of ACNY Developers was puzzled by the city’s decision to set up shop in Harlem after it gave him tax breaks to build an apartment building with 8,500 square feet of space for a grocery store just four blocks from La Marqueta.
The site benefitted from the city’s years-old “FRESH” program, which offers tax and zoning incentives to open grocery stores in designated areas of the city.
He’s yet to find a commercial tenant for the site, which was designed by a supermarket architect, where he’s hoping to charge a competitive $50 per square foot, or $500,000 a year.
“It’s still a better deal than charging taxpayers $30 million,” he remarked.
Menin is facing lobbying from local grocers after having a number of clashes with the mayor since he took office in January.
She’s criticized his and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to imposed a so-called “pied-à-terre tax” on secondary homes worth $5 million or more. Menin also slammed the mayor’s threat to increase property taxes in order to close the city’s budget gap, among other criticism.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
