On Sunday, April 12, 2026, during the commemoration of his first 100 days in office, Mayor Mamdani gave New Yorkers an update on one of his key campaign promises: city-owned government-operated grocery stores. The following Tuesday, April 14, 2026, Mamdani and other officials held an event at the proposed location of one of these stores.
Located underneath the Park Avenue tracks on East 115th Street in East Harlem, Mamdanu shared his plans to open La Marqueta. During his speech, he said, “We are all here at La Marqueta at the same site where 92 years ago Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia stood. And he was battling a cold in the pouring rain to break down on this very institution of La Marqueta. A city-owned public market opened two years later in 1936.” Created to help locals during the Great Depression, the original La Marqueta served over 25,000 at its peak.
The site is already owned by the government, but the store itself will have to be constructed from the ground up and has an estimated price tag of $30 million. Mamdani believes this site will work best for the project because “Around 65,000 New Yorkers live within a 10-minute walk of La Marqueta, 5,000 NYCHA residents live on either side of Park Avenue, in the area of La Marqueta, and nearly 40% of East Harlem residents receive public assistance or SNAP benefits in the last year.”
According to Mamdani, while a private operator will run the store, it must “answer to the standards the city will set.” He has stated that these standards include lower prices for “food staples” such as eggs, milk, and bread. La Marqueta isn’t expected to open until 2029, but the first of the 5 proposed grocery stores will open at the end of 2027. The location has not yet been released.
However, Mamdani’s announcement has left some feeling uneasy, especially bodega owners. The United Bodegas of America union, which “represents roughly 14,000 bodegas across the state,” argues that the initiative could harm these stores and is re-evaluating its endorsement of Mamdani.
Fernando Mateo, a member of the organization, warns, “What [Mamdani’s] going to do is let people think that bodegas are ripping them off because they’re making 1% or 5% markup. He’s basically poisoning people’s minds to think that supermarkets and bodegas are your enemy, because they’re not giving you things that you need.”
Mamdani has announced that the city-run stores “will not stock tobacco products or offer lottery tickets,” which are some of the most popular items at bodegas across the state.
To those who don’t believe his plan will succeed, Mamdani had one message:
“Some will insist that city‑owned businesses do not work, that government cannot keep up with corporations. My answer to them is simple: I look forward to the competition. May the most affordable grocery store win.”
