It was only a matter of time. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a lawsuit over his plan to create government-owned grocery stores in a socialist bid to make groceries more affordable.

A local group is suing the city over the plan, arguing that it constitutes unfair competition. From The Wall Street Journal:

A local business group sued New York City and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday over the mayor’s plan to open five government-owned grocery stores around the city.

The Multicultural Business Coalition, a nonprofit that represents supermarkets, grocery stores and bodegas, filed the lawsuit in the New York County Supreme Court, arguing that the plan would introduce unfair competition to a struggling local industry already dealing with slim profit margins. The coalition says that the plan will particularly harm immigrant- and minority-owned businesses.

Many members of the coalition “cannot compete with the municipal grocery stores, and therefore, will be put out of business,” the complaint reads.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mamdani floated the stores on the campaign trail as a part of his affordability agenda, arguing that subsidized supermarkets focused on cheap, healthy foods would help New Yorkers adapt to rapidly rising food costs. The stores, run by external operators but overseen by the city, would offer a core basket of staples at a 30% discount to market rates. Operators would get free rent and subsidies.

“For many, that 30% discount is the difference between an evening spent around the dinner table with family or working another double shift to make ends meet,” Mamdani said last month as officials announced the details of the proposal.

Mamdani’s plan was immediately pilloried after he announced it earlier this year. He claims it will save consumers a considerable amount of money each year, according to the New York Post:

Mamdani announced Monday that a fixed list of items will be put up at “below typical retail prices,” with items including fresh produce, meat and seafood, plus staples like milk, cheese and bread.

“No exceptions, no gimmicks,” Mamdani vowed at a news conference at The Campaign Against Hunger in East New York.

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.

Individual prices can fluctuate under the monthly framework, only requiring an “average discount of 30% relative to the retail price” across each category of household staples, according to planning documents.

The five stores — one in each borough — will cost Big Apple taxpayers $70 million to build, according to early estimates and City Hall couldn’t say what subsidizing the discounts will cost taxpayers.

The Economic Development Corporation “has begun its modelling and will refine estimates based on responses to the Operator RFP,” a mayoral spokesperson told The Post.

The city recently put out a request for proposals to private grocery chains to run the stores, asking potential bidders to estimate the figure themselves through an annual “Affordability Payment” to cover the losses from selling below retail prices.

Multicultural Business Coalition president Ken Roldan slammed the mayor’s idea, characterizing as a betrayal of small business owners. "Make no mistake about this plan. It is a direct assault on minority business by a mayor who claims to be a champion of disenfranchised poor and working-class New Yorkers," he said.