{"id":1011647,"date":"2026-08-19T23:15:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1011647\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T23:15:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:15:28","slug":"immigrant-owned-grocers-to-sue-over-mamdanis-nyc-owned-supermarkets-as-soon-as-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1011647\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant-owned grocers to sue over Mamdani’s NYC-owned supermarkets as soon as this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of immigrant-owned grocers who have threatened to sue New York City<\/a> over Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s plan to open government-owned supermarkets is poised to take legal action as soon as this week, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

The Multicultural Business Coalition, which is comprised of 50 chambers of commerce representing ethnically diverse businesses, made a last-ditch effort to avoid litigation in a letter to City Hall on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we have not heard from you since May 2026, we are open to resolving this matter amicably with more sensible solutions to feed working class people with nutritious essential food items at affordable prices,\u201d the coalition\u2019s president Kenneth Roldan wrote in the letter obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces the La Marqueta city-owned store. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

The coalition is still weighing whether to file in state court or federal court \u2014 or both, Roldan told The Post in an interview on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at the 11th hour \u2014 we have multiple versions of the lawsuits that have been prepared,\u201d Roldan said. \u201cThe federal case will be based on antitrust and predatory pricing. The state cause of action will be tortuous interference and possibly discriminatory practices by the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the group \u2014 which represents Asian, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Jewish-owned businesses in New York \u2014 has been repeatedly rebuffed by City Hall since May when it first requested meetings with the socialist mayor.<\/p>\n

The city recently issued a request for proposals and is seeking operators for five city-owned supermarkets that will cost taxpayers $70 million. Bids are due Oct. 16.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s RFP \u201cdemonstrates a lack of understanding of the supermarket industry and raises questions about the efficacy of the plan,\u201d according to the letter, adding that city-owned grocers \u201ccould paralyze their operations, reduce their slim profit margins or even force some out of business entirely.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking the mayor to avoid litigation to sit down with us,\u201d Mark Jaffe, who is legal counsel to the group and president of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce told The Post. \u201cBut we have to try to stop this if they won\u2019t listen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whistleblower Frank Garcia in his Gramercy Park apartment in New York on Wednesday, November 26, 2025. The Hispanic business leader alleges a honcho for a Mamdani-linked PAC illegally offered him a top city job and a seat on the transition team if he could raise $500,000 to $1 million in three days. (Helayne Seidman 2025) Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s plan calls for existing grocery store operators to run the five stores \u2013 which will not have to pay rent or taxes because the buildings are owned by the government \u2013 and to provide a 30% discount on basic items<\/a> like produce, meat, milk, cheese and bread. \u00a0<\/p>\n

City Hall projects the markdown will save shoppers an average of $90 a month or $1,000 a year, roughly around 15% off their bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly $40 million has been earmarked for the first two selected locations \u2013 in Harlem and the Bronx at Hunts Point \u2013 while the remaining three still don\u2019t have confirmed sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are about 15 food bodegas and grocery stores within five blocks of La Marqueta in East Harlem.<\/p>\n

A Food Bazaar Supermarket is located across the street from one of the city\u2019s proposed sites for a subsidized grocery store. Google Maps<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can a Food Bazaar right across the street from La Marqueta not be affected by such discounts?\u201d said Jaffe.<\/p>\n

The potential plaintiffs in a lawsuit are also concerned about retaliation from city officials, according to the coalition\u2019s chairman, Frank Garcia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of fear that Mamdani will go after the plaintiffs,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of immigrant-owned grocers who have threatened to sue New York City over Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s plan…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1011648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,64,13239,34485,336,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,24590,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5301],"class_list":["post-1011647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-business","tag-city-hall","tag-east-harlem","tag-lawsuits","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-supermarkets","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117124722179719191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1011647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1011647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1011648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1011647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1011647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1011647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}