Will NYC Mayor Mamdani's city-run grocery stores be a gimmick or a solution? Depends who you ask.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced East Harlem's La Marqueta will be the home of the Big Apple's first city-owned and operated grocery store. 

Sunday's announcement was a fulfillment of a campaign promise. The goal is to open it by the end of next year, and have one like it in each of the five boroughs by the end of 2029. Strict pricing, affordability and labor requirements will be in place. 

"At our stores, eggs will be cheaper. Bread will be cheaper. Grocery shopping will no longer be an unsolvable equation," Mamdani said at his announcement Sunday. 

"You can't serve eight million people with five locations"  

While the stores aim to level the playing field for shoppers struggling to make ends meet, critics say it'll do more damage than good. 

The United Bodegas of America is among the critics. A spokesperson said the concept is more of a gimmick than a solution to the current climate. The group says it will hurt small businesses. 

"You can't serve eight million people with five locations. You can serve eight million people if you work out a deal with the existing businesses," United Bodegas of America spokesperson Fernando Mateo said.

NYC in grocery store business already

Nevin Cohen, executive director of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, says New York City's involvement in grocery stores is nothing new. 

"Actually, New York has been in the grocery store business for 100 years," Cohen said. "It's operated public markets around the city. It's supported green carts, or push carts, that sell produce in certain neighborhoods. It has subsidized grocery shopping for people who can't access public benefits like SNAP."

Currently, the city oversees six public markets where vendors rent space below market rates. La Marqueta is one of them. 

"They're going to hurt us more than what they're gonna help. Bodega owners are not ripping people off. We're not charging excessively for anything, because we work on pennies on the dollar," Mateo said. "What we need is help from you, mayor. Not competition." 

"The prices in these stores are ridiculous"

Brooklyn grandmother Sissy Spruill says she's been paying through the nose when it comes to groceries. She said her daughter, who lives in East Harlem, travels far to the Bronx to find reasonable prices. 

"I'm telling you, the prices in these stores are ridiculous," Spruill said. 

East Harlem has long been plagued by affordability issues. Approximately 38% of households receive SNAP benefits, according to the city. 

"One important thing to make sure that this is successful is working with the community to find out what people want to buy, what they need to buy at a lower cost," Cohen said.

The city-run grocery store concept is already winning over locals. 

"That's actually great, because most of these supermarkets around here don't supply good food like organic foods," resident Dante McLaughlin said. 

"This is actually way more cooler than what I think people are actually treating it. I'm very excited," Kiara Jerez-Alston said. 

The city plans to partner with third-party grocery vendors and collaborate on pricing and labor. The model is similar to one that opened last fall in Downtown Atlanta.