NYCEDC Selects Branding and Design Consortium to Develop Visual Identity for “N.Y.C. Groceries”

Gander, Librarie, Noble Signs, and Seven Roots Among Firms to Create a Distinctly New York Brand for the City’s Network of Five Affordable Grocery Stores

Announcement Builds on the City's Commitment to Affordable Food Access and Stronger Neighborhood Grocery Options

NEW YORK, NY—Following a competitive Request for Proposals process, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announced the selection of a consortium of branding and design firms—subject to approval by the NYCEDC Board of Directors on Wednesday, September 30—to develop the visual identity for “N.Y.C. Groceries."

The network of five city-supported grocery stores, one in each borough, is designed to expand access to affordable, healthy food for New Yorkers.

Together, and in partnership with NYCEDC and City Hall, these firms will create a cohesive and vibrant brand identity that resonates with New Yorkers, reflects the character of the city’s food retail landscape, and makes each store recognizable, accessible, and welcoming.

The selected firms include:

• Gander, a strategic branding firm with deep expertise in packaging design, will serve as the primary consultant, leading on research, creative development, and brand application;
• Librarie, a boutique brand consultancy working in partnership with Gander, will co-lead on brand positioning, voice, copy, and naming;
• Noble Signs, a creative studio specializing in signage and language for public spaces, will bring expertise in New York City history and culture to help ensure the brand feels authentic to the city;
• Seven Roots, a grocery store design and development firm for independent grocers, will serve as a food retail advisor, bringing grocery landscape + operations perspective, and supporting brand integration into the physical retail environment.

The Mamdani administration’s network of municipal grocery stores—a core pillar of the Mayor’s Affordability Agenda—will guarantee lower prices for New Yorkers across the five boroughs. According to The Poverty Tracker Report, more than 40 percent of families in New York City struggle to afford food. Through N.Y.C. Groceries, New Yorkers will receive a 30 percent discount on a core basket of goods, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, pantry staples, dairy, and refrigerated items. The mayor has allocated $70 million in the capital budget to deliver on this core commitment to New Yorkers in partnership with NYCEDC.

“Our municipal grocery stores should be a place every New Yorker recognizes and feels welcome in. With expertise and experience in branding, city history, and grocery retail, this team will help us deliver stores that make affordable food easy to find in every borough,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su.

“Every New Yorker deserves access to affordable, high-quality food, no matter their neighborhood or income,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Anthony Shorris. “Selecting these firms is an important step toward delivering on Mayor Mamdani’s affordability agenda and creating grocery stores that are welcoming, easy to recognize, and unmistakably New York.”

“We’ve been asked many times if we have a dream client or dream project. Without a doubt, this is it. We’ve spent the better part of our careers bringing good food to the forefront of design and culture and redefining how people think about groceries. To get the opportunity to shape something that could fundamentally improve access to healthy food is so meaningful to us. This feels like our calling as creatives, food nerds, and New Yorkers, and we’re honored to be part of this moment in our city’s history,” said Gander Co-Founder & Creative Director Katie Levy.

“The decision by the City and NYCEDC to make customer research, positioning, and naming part of the blueprint for these stores is thrilling. I am honored to join a dream lineup with such deep roots in grocery, food, and the vocabulary of New York City. The Gander team is the ideal lead for our consortium, bringing a generous, wildly creative approach and a body of work that includes some of the most iconic brand identities in recent history. What I’m especially drawn to on this project is that while a store like this may seem new for New York, the spirit at its core is already all around the city,” said Fern Diaz, Strategy Director and Founder of Librarie.

“The launch of the NYC Groceries project is a historic moment for our city, and we are honored to be a part of the team crafting the name, strategy, and visual identity for this future civic institution. Working with Gander, Seven Roots, and Librarie, our aim is to ensure the Groceries brand is deeply rooted in New York history, local human character, and our shared values,” said Noble Signs Principal & Head of Design David Barnett. “We believe design can build community by creating a sense of belonging through clear communication, accessible systems, and bold, legible messaging that transcends language and speaks to all New Yorkers. Collaborating with these talented partners—led by the amazing team at Gander—who bring both experience and innovation in the grocery space, we look forward to delivering a world-class design package that is deeply rooted in our local vernacular and New York City itself.”

“Community grocers are at the heart of neighborhood life. At seven roots, our work centers on supporting communities to create stores that are relevant, responsive, and rooted in the needs of the people they serve,” said Seven Roots Managing Partner Heather Lazickas. “The City of New York is uniquely positioned to innovate and test models that could help fortify a new wave of grocery development focused on increased food access and affordability in communities across the country. We’re honored to partner with this skilled and thoughtful team to help make that vision a reality.”

The consortium will develop the creative and design framework that will shape how New Yorkers experience and interact with N.Y.C. Groceries, including:

• Brand Research, Strategy, and Concepting: Research industry trends, shopper habits, the food industry landscape, and facilitate focus groups to inform the brand’s positioning.
• Visual Identity and Design Application: Develop the name, taglines, logo, typography, color palette, and concepts for interior and exterior branding.
• Architecture and Engineering Collaboration: Coordinate with architecture and engineering teams to incorporate brand standards into the design and buildout of each store.

To date, the City has identified two locations for NYC Groceries stores: La Marqueta in East Harlem, where a new 9,000-square-foot store will be constructed, and The Peninsula in the Bronx, where a 20,000-square-foot store is expected to open by 2027 as the initiative’s first location. All five NYC Groceries stores are expected to be open by the end of the mayor’s first term. The City has also launched the N.Y.C. Groceries Sites Portal to identify potential locations for additional stores in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Property owners with eligible sites are encouraged to submit them through the portal for consideration.

Mayor Mamdani and NYCEDC have also issued a request for proposals from qualified grocers or firms to serve as operators of one or more of the stores. The selected operator(s) will be responsible for managing day-to-day store operations, including merchandising, staffing, and adherence to strong labor practices.

N.Y.C. Groceries is guided by the administration’s “A Recipe for Affordability” plan, which outlines nine core pillars that will shape the development and implementation of the initiative. The plan establishes a framework for addressing food affordability, defining how affordability is measured, identifying the right operating model and experienced third-party partners, selecting sites, engaging stakeholders, supporting good jobs, strengthening the broader grocery ecosystem, and creating a path from vision to execution.

About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city's future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About Gander
Gander is an award-winning creative company based in New York. We were founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife duo Katie Levy and Mike McVicar with a simple ambition: to make unforgettable work, with good people, for causes we believe in. Over the last 11 years, our close-knit team of strategists, designers, and collaborators has helped us do just that, from a longstanding partnership with the Lower East Side Ecology Center to creating America's favorite olive oil brand, Graza, and rebranding beloved New York institutions like Celebrate Brooklyn. Along the way, we've become evangelists for the four-day workweek, proving that sensational work doesn't have to come at the expense of health or happiness. When we're not Gandering, we run Make Meadows, a free online resource aimed at dismantling the American lawn in favor of beneficial native landscapes. Find it at @MakeMeadows.

About Librarie
Librarie is a boutique brand consultancy based in New York City, specializing in positioning, messaging, and campaigns for ambitious ideas—from thought experiments to legacy institutions and billion-dollar products. Founder Fern Diaz works across strategy and creative and regularly advises CEOs, CMOs, investors, and artists on shaping work that has integrity and guts.

About Noble Signs
Noble Signs is a multidisciplinary creative studio based in New York City, working across branding, signage, typography, fabrication, and cultural research. Alongside our commercial practice, we founded the New York Sign Museum, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and activating the city’s vernacular visual culture. Together, the studio and museum operate as a shared practice: one creating new work for today’s city, the other preserving and expanding the histories that continue to shape it. By treating design as a live medium rather than a static product, we aim to deliver work that is inclusive and speaks to anyone who calls NYC home.

About Seven Roots
Seven roots specializes in independent grocery design and development, including store planning and design, feasibility and positioning, and organizational strategy. Their sweet spot marries the practical with the possible—co-creating with communities, many of whom are pioneering new models of grocery access. seven roots partners with grocers, governments, community leaders, and funders who want to dream big and contribute to positive change within our food system.