U.S. Chamber Takes Free Enterprise Fight to East Harlem Bodega

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce brought its Free Enterprise Express Opportunity Tour to a 16-year-old family-owned bodega in East Harlem on Tuesday to attack Mayor Eric Adams-style plans for government-owned grocery stores — a $70 million initiative that the Chamber says will force small merchants out of business.

The stop at 103 Deli & Grocery, known as Perfect Deli and located at 148 E 103rd St, put a national spotlight on a proposal the Chamber calls socialist economics. Under the Mayor's plan, government-owned grocery stores would pay no rent, no property taxes, and no construction expenses while still receiving taxpayer subsidies.

U.S. Chamber Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley appeared alongside bodega owner Pharsu Ram Panthi and Mark Jaffe, General Counsel of the Multicultural Business Coalition and President of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce.

"Small bodega and grocery store owners have spent years serving their neighborhood and employing the community. It is beyond outrageous that they will be forced out of business by their own government," Bradley said. "If that happens, all that will be left for local residents is stores where government bureaucrats get to decide what they can buy. This is socialism and it will be a disaster."

The stakes are concrete for Perfect Deli. The store sits just blocks from La Marqueta, the site of one of five planned government-owned grocery stores. That single location carries an estimated cost of $30 million, part of the broader $70 million initiative.

The Chamber's Counterproposal

Bradley said the U.S. Chamber will respond directly to the Mayor's request for proposals to manage government grocery stores. The organization plans to submit recommendations showing how the government can lower food prices for all New Yorkers by cutting regulation and taxes.

"In response to the Mayor's request for proposals to manage government grocery stores, the U.S. Chamber will submit recommendations showing how the government can help lower food prices for all New Yorkers by reducing excessive regulation and sky-high taxes, including property taxes that are among the highest in the nation," Bradley said. "Free enterprise, not socialism, is the way to lower prices for families."

Jaffe framed the conflict as a direct contradiction in city policy.

"You can't claim to support small businesses and bodegas and then use taxpayer dollars to put them out of business. We're glad that the U.S. Chamber was here with us today to shine a light on that contradiction," Jaffe said.

A Six-Week Road Campaign

The East Harlem event is one stop on a broader campaign. The Free Enterprise Express bus will spend six weeks visiting businesses whose ideas, products, and services help make communities stronger, the Chamber said. The bus travels to key states to drive debate about what it takes for people, businesses, and communities to thrive. State and local chamber members are partners in the effort.

The tour is part of the U.S. Chamber's New Fight for Free Enterprise initiative, a multi-year strategic effort to defend, protect, and promote free enterprise. The Chamber describes itself as the world's largest business organization, representing companies of all sizes across every sector, from Main Street small businesses to leading industry associations and large corporations, with more than 114 years of advocacy for pro-business policies.

The New York showdown sets up a concrete test case for the national debate: whether a $70 million municipal grocery program can coexist with the bodegas it would compete against — and whether the Chamber's deregulation counterproposal gains traction in the Mayor's RFP process.