A City-Owned Grocery Store Is Coming to East Harlem. Here Are the Details to Know.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani today announced plans to open Manhattan's first city-run grocery store in East Harlem.

Offering groceries at subsidized prices, the store will be one of five to open throughout the city, one in each borough.

At a press conference held inside La Marqueta, the historic public market on Park Avenue and E 115th Street, Mamdani shared more details.

“A public option allows us to intervene where the market has failed," said the mayor. "This is about ensuring that every New Yorker, regardless of income or ZIP code, has access to fresh, healthy food at a price they can afford.”

Here are more key points to know:

• The store, contracted to a private operator, will sell essential groceries like bread and eggs at affordable prices that will remain stable.

• The Manhattan location will open in 2029 (at least one of the four other city-owned groceries will be unveiled in 2027).

• The 9,000-square-foot Manhattan store will be built from the ground up on an empty lot owned by the city.

• The exact location hasn't been announced yet, but the mayor said the lot in question was "about one or two blocks over there," pointing north under the tracks toward East 116th Street and Park Avenue.

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