Mayor Zohran Mamdani will announce on Sunday that New York City will open a city-owned grocery store in East Harlem in Manhattan by the end of his first term, taking an early step to deliver on a key campaign pledge.
The mayor wants to spend roughly $30 million to build the store at La Marqueta, a city-owned marketplace under elevated train tracks in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Mr. Mamdani will announce the plan at a speech on Sunday to mark his first 100 days as mayor.
As a candidate, Mr. Mamdani said he would create five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough, in hopes of bringing down food costs for struggling New Yorkers.
They love the idea in east Harlem. The current area is called la marqueta. It used to be like a bazaar with fruits vegetables and butchers but it didn’t survive the recent modernization with giant corporations moving into the neighborhood. Eventually it became a local hangout spot for seniors on the weekends for dancing and playing dominos now it’ll be a proper food market again.