New York Will Open City-Run Supermarket Down the Street; Grocer Says He Can’t Compete

By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-06 12:21:35 | Updated at 2026-09-06 13:00:21 1 hour ago

Angel Rafael Nuñez just purchased new refrigeration display shelves for fresh produce and the meat counter at his C-Town Supermarket in the South Bronx. His clean, orderly supermarket has been feeding the community for four decades.

But now he’s concerned he might not be able to pay back the loan he took out to buy the new shelves. He’s worried he will lose the business in which he has invested more than 40 years of his life.

Nuñez’s full-service grocery store on Southern Avenue is just four blocks from La Peninsula, an old juvenile detention center where the New York City Economic Development Corporation plans to open the first of five planned city-owned grocery stores in 2027.

The city-owned grocery stores are part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to fight rising food prices.

The stores will offer a list of staple food items at 30 percent off the going market price, although how the market price will be calculated has not been disclosed.

The city is searching for a private operator to run the stores. Neither the proposed site in Manhattan nor in the Bronx could be considered a food desert, so the city-owned stores will draw customers from local independent markets.

The Bronx location of the city-owned store at La Peninsula Community Center has at least three full-service supermarkets within half a mile of the center.

Nuñez said that if he had known in advance the city would open a grocery store so close to him, he would not have made the investment.

“I feel extremely upset about what New York City is doing because they are number one responsible for the reason that the prices in New York City are not lower, for food and for the retail industry in general,” he said.

Angel Nuñez stands by his produce section at his C-Town Supermarket in South Bronx, New York, on Aug. 31, 2026 (Nicholas Zifcak/The Epoch Times)

He says the city is portraying the situation as if grocers have a monopoly on prices and that the city has to step in to break it up by competing against them. He says the city has failed to address fundamental cost drivers for retailers, which contribute to higher consumer prices.

“They don’t have the tools to go after problems like high real estate taxes, high rents, high energy, high insurance. They don’t have the tools to go after that kind of problems. And now they come after me,” Nuñez said.

He says New York is an extremely competitive market: “How are prices set?” he asked. The price of food items is set through competition, explains Nuñez. He displayed his weekly promotional coupons, pointing out items marked down so low that he said he would make no profit and recover only his costs.

That includes items like a two-and-a-half-gallon jug of Mazola corn oil, which he sells at cost for $29.99, one per family, as long as a shopper spends another $25 at the store.

Nuñez opened his store in 1984 after Bronx grocery chain Fedco went bankrupt. He said he saw a need in the community and worked to meet it.

“How can I imagine in my life that New York City is one day going to try to compete against my business?” he asked.

Nuñez is on the board of directors of the National Supermarket Association (NSA), a coalition of independent grocers who lobby for the interests of independent store operators.

The organization is critical of Mamdani’s approach and has met with the mayor and his team to recommend alternative ways to reduce food prices across the city.

Anthony Pena, president of the NSA, wishes the city would work with independent grocers rather than against them.

“If you want the people to save money on groceries, the first thing you should be doing is talking to the experts, boots on the ground,” said Pena, who spoke with The Epoch Times by phone.

He said the mayor’s plan will only help a few neighborhoods, rather than all New Yorkers.

He wished the city would support independent grocers and help them find ways, such as via grants, to lower food prices.

NSA proposed such a plan to the mayor’s office, but Pena said the independent grocers could only agree to hold static prices on fresh, perishable food items for 15 days. If they held them longer, and prices rose over those 30 days, they could lose a lot of money on that one item by the end of the month.

What Mamdani wants is to set prices on a list of basics for 30 days and hold them.

“No exceptions, no gimmicks. The savings will last for the entire month,” Mamdani said on July 27 in Brooklyn as he announced the 30 percent discount to be offered at the city-owned stores.

Mayor Mamdani’s Approach

At press events, the mayor made it clear his aim is to stabilize prices for low-income families and seniors—to reduce food insecurity.

“We are not looking to compete with bodegas or grocery stores when it comes to their ability to survive. What we’re looking to do is to provide affordability that is guaranteed to New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.

The mayor said the grocery market is big enough for the more than 1,000 existing grocery stores and the five city grocery stores.

The city hopes to make its city-owned grocery stores a novelty and a destination for people from other neighborhoods, ideally strengthening the neighborhood, including existing bodegas and supermarkets.

But some said novelty wears off, and no studies have been done to evaluate the impact on the local business community. That’s the gist of a lawsuit filed on August 24 by the Multicultural Business Coalition, which says the city failed to conduct a land-use review to assess the impact on local businesses.

Speaking with reporters in Brooklyn in late July, Mamdani said that the search for an operator for the stores was open.

The selected operator will pay no rent or taxes at the selected site but must source and deliver the deep 30 percent discount on a list of food staples, including fresh meat and seafood (and some frozen items), all fresh fruit and vegetables, deli meats, yogurt, milk, cheese, eggs, butter, tofu, pasta, bread, nuts, rice, beans, and prepared deli salads as well as others.

The city may also implement something similar to a library card to prevent customers from hoarding or bulk purchasing and then reselling the discounted food items.

If the tax break and free rent aren’t enough to help the operator break even, the city will provide subsidies to cover the 30 percent discount on food items.