NYC-owned grocery store plan could cost $206M in first few years: GOP comptroller candidate

Not Zo cheap.Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s signature municipal owned grocery store plan could cost $206 million in its first few years, according to an analysis from GOP State Comptroller candidate Joseph Hernandez.Hernandez’s analysis breaks the cost down into three major categories: $70 million for construction costs, a $106 million project in operating costs and an estimated $30 million in lost revenue from nearby bodegas and grocery stores over the next three years.“We know City Hall is spending $70 million just to build these stores.What happens in year one, year two and year three? Who keeps paying for the subsidies? And what happens to the small businesses forced to compete against their own government?,” Hernandez said at a press conference outside a Manhattan bodega.Hernandez was joined by the Multicultural Business Coalition, who recently filed a lawsuit challenging Hizzoner’s grocery store program over fears it would pose unfair competition to local stores.“We don’t want the same thing to happen to the community as when Costco opened here and [shops] went out of business,” store owner Diana Larrazabal said at the Wednesday press conference. The city has already acknowledged that the stores will cost $70 million to build.

The report, meanwhile, did not explore how much revenue the city stores might bring in or if it would be enough to cover construction and operating costs.Mamdani’s camp has also not made any estimates on what returns the stores might see.The report also didn’t look into how much savings might come to local consumers who don’t have to play bodega or grocery store prices, and how that might affect the local economy.

Neither has the city.The report did find, however, that roughly 450 local bodegas and grocery stores could face an average loss of around $22,250, eating into an already slim annual profit margin of around $30,000 to $40,000.Hernandez, a former Wall Street exec, also warned that up to 67 local stores could ...