Tipsheet

Zohran Mamdani's City-Run Grocery Store Just Got Even Worse

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  May 27, 2026 1:00 PM

The first of five city-run grocery stores in New York City, La Marqueta, may carry a price tag nearly double the already outrageous $30 million Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced last month. 

The East Harlem site selected for the store was reportedly approved for a $25 million upgrade years ago in 2017, yet it still sits vacant and run-down. That brings the total projected cost of the city-run grocery store to roughly $55 million, compared to the typical cost of opening a private grocery store, which is around $3 million. 

According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation, that $25 million was supposed to provide La Marqueta with a playground, dog park, outdoor seating, and transform the building into a market offering the local community “fresh produce, grocery items, prepared foods, and public seating in a food hall environment.” 

It remains unclear what happened to that $25 million, as La Marqueta currently has none of the features outlined in the 2017 plan. It is also unclear why Mayor Mamdani failed to mention that the city’s $30 million price tag for the city-run grocery store came on top of the already allocated $25 million. 

“The $30 million is an outrageous number” by itself, Stephen Zagor, an adjunct associate professor of food studies at Columbia Business School, said. “You’d expect the doorknobs and cash registers to be solid gold.” 

“And to think there is another $25 million allocated years ago for the rest of La Marqueta, which is well past its prime, I’d think they would have to revisit that."

It is unclear where the $25 million in taxpayer funds is, or whether it actually went into the project.

Mamdani has vowed to open five city-run grocery stores across the city, one in each borough, and has allocated a total of $70 million to the project. Many have questioned why La Marqueta alone requires $30 million, leaving roughly $10 million for each of the remaining four locations. 

Critics have blasted Mamdani’s plan, arguing that the city-run stores would outcompete local businesses while wasting taxpayer funds. Others warn the experiment in socialism could lead to long lines and shortages reminiscent of the Soviet model, which Mamdani would likely argue was not an example of real socialism.