Several immigrant business owners are preparing to sue New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over his plan for city-owned grocery stores, Fox News Digital confirmed Wednesday.
The Multicultural Business Coalition’s board voted this week to pursue legal action against the city over Mamdani’s proposal to open five taxpayer-funded grocery stores that would sell food at prices up to 30% below traditional retailers, according to the New York Post, which first reported the vote Tuesday.
MBC Chairman Frank Garcia said the coalition plans to send a letter to Mamdani’s office in the coming days outlining its legal plans to protect bodegas, competing grocers and other small businesses. If the mayor does not respond or agree to meet within three weeks, the group intends to proceed with the lawsuit.
Garcia said he has sought a meeting with the administration for months without success, despite public assurances from a city commissioner that officials would engage with all stakeholders. “The commissioner said this administration is open to speak to everybody, and they want to hear from everybody,” Garcia told Fox News Digital. “So I’ve been waiting for a meeting for a couple of months. Why aren’t they having me? We are ready to file the lawsuit if the mayor doesn’t meet with us.”
Garcia described the effort as nonpartisan, saying it is aimed at defending small business owners who are already struggling with rising costs in New York City. He said lawyers will be ready to file once the three-week window closes, citing support from a coalition of civil rights and community organizations across the political spectrum. “We’re nonpartisan. So we’re going to meet everybody, Republican or Democrat,” Garcia said, adding that a Democratic Jewish organization and other civil rights groups have offered support and funding for the legal fight.
The coalition was formed earlier this year specifically to oppose Mamdani’s grocery store initiative and includes members from African, Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic, Jewish and Middle Eastern business communities. It has drawn backing from city and state lawmakers, including New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
The looming lawsuit follows Mamdani’s release of additional details on the city-backed grocery plan, which has drawn renewed criticism from opponents who have branded it a “communist fantasy” and a threat to independent grocers already operating on thin margins. The mayor has separately faced pushback over his endorsed rent freeze, which a group of city landlords is also seeking to overturn in court.
Mamdani has defended the grocery store plan as a way to lower food costs for residents, pointing to it as a signature piece of his affordability agenda. Critics, including small business advocates and economists, have questioned whether a government-run retail operation can undercut private grocers without straining city finances or distorting the local market bodegas and immigrant-owned stores depend on to survive.