Grocers, bodegas claim NYC officials are demanding private business info as city preps government-owned supermarkets

Big Apple grocers and bodega owners claim city officials are walking into their stores demanding private information about their businesses – even as far-left Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial plans for government-owned supermarkets pose a looming competitive threat, The Post has learned.At a Tuesday press conference outside East Harlem’s La Marqueta – the planned site for one of Mandani’s five city-owned grocery stores – business leaders griped that nosy city representatives have been grilling and scaring grocers in the Bronx.“It’s a sneaky way of gathering information and it’s unethical,” said Fernando Mateo, spokesman for the United Bodegas of America, which represents 40,000 delis and bodegas in the city.”These owners panic when they see a city official,” he added.“They feel threatened by them walking in to ask questions.”Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politicsThe complaints come on the heels of an exclusive Monday report by The Post about local business leaders who met last month with city officials including Julie Su, deputy mayor for economic justice, to discuss the plan for publicly run stores known as NYC Groceries.

Those groups said they were peppered with similar questions and refused to provide answers.On Tuesday, local store owners griped that city reps are asking about top-selling items, how many of them they sell each week and what they cost the business.The city’s visits aren’t sitting well with the National Supermarket Association, which represents some 800 independent supermarkets from New York to Florida.The city’s Economic Development Corporation is “claiming that they are getting information from supermarkets on how much we make in lottery, beer and cigarette sales and what our profit margins are,” NSA president Anthony Pena told The Post.

The city, according to Pena, claims those are the the stores’ most profitable items.“It’s just untrue,�...