A coalition of small businesses moved to sue New York City and Mayor Zohran Mamdani in response to plans for city-owned grocery stores.
The initiative is one of Mamdani's main campaign promises, with its first store expected to open in The Bronx in 2027. But why are some business owners against the move?
Here's what to know.
Lawsuit against city-owned grocery stores in NYC
This week, a lawsuit was filed in the New York Supreme Court by the Multicultural Business Coalition against both the city of New York and Mamdani himself.
Before being elected, Mamdani proposed the city would open grocers across the city in an effort to combat rising food prices if he became mayor. Five municipal grocery stores — one in each of the city's boroughs — were a part of the proposal.
According to the city's plan,
groceries are expected to be offered at a 30% discount on average.
In the court filing, the MBC describes itself as a nonprofit that represents thousands of business owners, hundreds of which it says could be "adversely affected" by the city-owned grocery stores. It claims that the city did not thoroughly perform studies on how the municipal grocers could impact neighborhood supermarkets, particularly those run by minority owners.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that the city grocery store's Manhattan location would be La Marqueta in East Harlem. The 9,000-square-foot location is expected to open sometime in 2029, documents say. But the suit says that the location is "surrounded by a considerable numberof successfully run predominately Hispanic and Korean owned supermarkets, with whom LaMarqueta will be in competition."
"Many minority members of the MBC cannot compete with the municipal grocery stores, and therefore, will be put out of business resulting in further exclusion of minority groups that are historically excluded by the City of New York from economic opportunities."
In another suit, the group said that it is past the scope of municipal authority.
Mamdani's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment by USA TODAY. At an unrelated press conference on Monday, the mayor did say that he was "confident both in the legality of (the grocery stores) that it will stand up in court and the importance of delivering it," according to reporting by the New York Times.
Where are the other locations expected?
In May, the mayor announced where it will have its Bronx location: The Peninsula in Hunts Point. The 15,000-square-foot store is expected to be the first one to open in late 2027.
The city has not yet identified sites for grocery stores in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why business owners are suing Zohran Mamdani
