The National Supermarket Association and two of its members, City Fresh Market and C-Town Supermarket, filed a federal antitrust lawsuit Tuesday in the Southern District of New York against New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's city-owned grocery store plan, according to multiple reports.

The association, which represents 450 independent grocery stores, filed the complaint with the American First Policy Institute. The plaintiffs argue that the millions of dollars funding Mamdani's grocery stores create an unfair advantage for the government and violate antitrust laws. Mamdani has said he wants to spend upwards of $70 million on the plan.

"Independent supermarkets have invested in … neighborhoods, created jobs, paid taxes and served local families for generations," National Supermarket Association President Anthony Pena told the New York Post. "They deserve a fair and level playing field, not competition against a government-subsidized program operating under different rules."

The suit is the second legal challenge to the plan in less than a month. Last month, the Multicultural Business Coalition filed its own lawsuit against the initiative. The coalition formed this year specifically to fight the grocery store plan and comprises 50 chambers of commerce representing Asian, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, Middle Eastern and Jewish-owned businesses in New York.

The city has already selected sites for two of the five planned store locations. One is in East Harlem's La Marqueta, where five bodegas operate just a few blocks away — a concentration that groups opposed to the plan say presents a direct threat to existing small operators.

The city has also announced that the city-run grocery stores will price certain items 30% below average market prices, including produce, meat, bread and milk. For the independent grocers suing the city, that pricing power backed by public dollars sits at the heart of their antitrust claim.

The legal pressure is mounting as the Mamdani administration moves forward with site selection and pricing commitments. A second federal case, brought by an association representing hundreds of stores, raises the stakes for a plan that now must clear both the courts and sustained opposition from organized business coalitions before its five stores can open.