NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Sued by Business Coalition Over City-Owned Grocery Stores Operating Like Walmart

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing more opposition to his plan to have city-owned grocery stores in the Big Apple.

On Monday, August 24, the Multicultural Business Coalition (MBC) filed two lawsuits in New York State court, according to the New York Post.

The first legal filing is a class-action lawsuit on behalf of “hundreds” of store owners who are “members of groups historically discriminated against,” who claim their civil rights will be violated by municipal stores, the outlet reported.

The second lawsuit alleged the municipal grocery stores would have a similar effect as Walmart — which has never been allowed to open in NYC — as they “have pledged to sell food items 30% below the market-rate, a rate that rivals or exceeds Walmart discounts.”

Municipal grocery stores would be the same as “allowing Walmart to operate deep discount business, while bringing ‘affordability'” they “would eliminate an untold amount of opportunity for minority businesses and small business at large,” according to the lawsuit.

Additionally, the lawsuit accused the city and Mamdani, 34, of failing to conduct a “proper review,” such as a land-use study: “There is no extant evidence that the respondents have undertaken any studies and or serious analysis before its current arbitrary site selection.”

The lawsuit further stated that the city “failed to study the discriminatory effects” of the city-owned grocery stores on minority- and family-owned bodegas and grocery stores. MBC is asking the court to insist the city perform an economic analysis.

MBC was created earlier this year and, according to the NYC Chamber website, “The coalition’s goal is to amplify the collective economic and civic power of communities spanning Hispanic, Asian, Caribbean, African, Middle Eastern, Jewish, South Asian, and immigrant constituencies, with particularly strong representation from the New York–New Jersey region and ties to national and international partners.”

As Globe previously reported, in July the mayor announced that there will be a city-owned grocery store in each of the five boroughs. The stores will include “a core basket of everyday groceries” which “will be 30 percent cheaper,” per the NYC.gov website.