A small shop? What's an incredible concept. Who would have thunk it?
America truly is the land of innovation.
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
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Don't be mean. I promise to do my best to judge that fairly.
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Taiwanese laughs in local 7-11 or FamilyMart
That's not true. A bodega is a corner store with a plexiglass container for staff because they're in a shithole.
A bodega is a corner store owned by the guy behind the counter.
Most corner stores in most places these days are run by regional managers of franchisees who hire Clerky The Clowns to work the counter and have to keep producing numbers for corporate.
I ain't explaining shit. It's a bodega, fuck you. Have a nice day.
Wait till I tell Americans that small discount supermarkets exist within walking distance in Denmark.
Well, that's different than a Bodega. You see, the bodega is only stocked with inventory the owners purchased at a retail grocery store down the road, so the markup is like paying a convenience surcharge. No discounts.
Wait until they find out Denmark is filled with Danish people.
Good god, no!
Corner stores in NYC have some advantages, competition. If
In the burbs and rural areas, the stores are spread out, and if you have a shitty store a couple miles closer than a decent store, they can just produce the cheapest crap and sell it to you for exorbatent prices.
New Yorkers are ok with walking a few blocks. So if your corner shop can't complete another one 2 minutes away will draw away their customers.
Even corner shops in Baltimore and DC are pretty anemic comparatively, but they tend to have more actual restaurants peppered about.
Keep your bodegas. Ain't none of you guys can beat our local gas station/post office//DMV/liquor store/UPS pickup point. We don't even need a special name for it. It's just The Store. Sure it's not within walking distance. But then not even the neighbors are either.
You can fill up your car, get your mail, buy new tabs for that car/boat/UTV/truck or get a fishing/hunting license, buy a 12 pack of beer, send a fax to your parole officer, and buy a gallon of milk with a frozen pizza to either cook there or take it home. It also has 2 tables and 5 chairs to relax at, (no purchase necessary). I know people who do all of that in one visit.
I didn't grow up quite that rural, but close enough that this comment is making me nostalgic.
That sounds like a Party Store combined with a really nice gas station.
I've got one of those within throwing distance of my job, it fuckin' rules
These comments are so weird. I only found out what a bodega was recently, so I've added it to my brain as "corner shop". I didn't even know they were peculiar to a specific area until this post.
So they're corner shops. Everything people comment about them being different still comes under the umbrella of "corner shop". It's weird to see people yapping about how they're different and then giving reasons that... still mean corner shop.
I've always called them "convenience stores", but, yeah, same thing. I once worked with a woman who took me to this place on our break which she introduced by saying "Okay, I'm not trying to be racist, but I honestly don't know what else to call this place. It's a chink shop." So, I'm wondering what this store is going to be like. We walk in, and...it's a fuckin' convenience store. Which happened to be run by Asians.
Diaclamer: never been to new york or any store that called itself a bodega.
I think its similar to "all bodegas are corner shops but not all corner shops are bodegas". They have unique features that group them closer to eachother than to most other corner stores. But they are still a corner store.
All poodles are dogs but some people just prefer poodles.
Then explain what makes them different from corner shops. Because so far, every characteristic is just a characteristic of a corner shop.
It is like claiming there are a species of poodle that are different from poodles.
Vibes
The big things are the deli counter and vibe of the place. Things aren't necessarily super over priced like chain convenient stores. They also often also tailor to more specific customers. There is one near me that has shelves of Indian products while another just a block away carries Polish products.
Americans have so little culture for themselves they have to make even something as common and ubiquitous as a corner shop, all about them.
I've heard some bodegas have cats
I'd be blissed-out to have a bodega near where I live. It's over a mile - with nothing else in it- to the nearest gas station. And NYC has 13,000 of them!
As for the byatch that lives to create posts that piss people off? Honey, you may reap all u sow ten times over!
What's disappointing is that bodegas are as close to a "third space" as you're likely to get. It's not a place you're meant to hang out, there isn't even seating, and you are supposed to buy something. And yet, there's a hint at some kind of community.
UK, Ireland and Australia have a slight improvement on that with pubs. They're also commercial establishments, but culturally it's more of a community thing. It's also not just about alcohol. You can get a hot meal too. Even if someone isn't going out to hang out with friends down at the pub, it's often perfectly normal to go there and eat alone while reading a book. Even that is a bit of a community activity, because you'll see some of the same faces and exchange greetings or at least waves or nods.
Places with serious winters (and I'm including NYC in that), really should have third spaces that are not for profit and designed for various kinds of hanging out: board games, indoor sports, gaming, cooking. That just doesn't seem to be a common thing in the English speaking world, at least for adults.
The real beauty of the pub/local/neighborhood bar is that is is local and in your neighborhood! You can walk there and walk back after and nobody gets a dui
Til https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place
In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and workplace ("second place"). Examples of third places include churches, cafes, bars, clubs, libraries, gyms, bookstores, hackerspaces, stoops, parks, and theaters, among others.
boodegas, you say, and you're not a little bit suspicious that it is far too close to the term bottega, italian for general all purpose shop and conmercial activity? like, 'aprire bottega' - 'starting a business'? And i know for a fact that NY is full of Italians.
Nah clearly it’s because Americans are pieces of uncultured swine shit.
Bodega is spanish for bottega
See?! Way too convenient!
zamn i need to think simpler at times, you're right
Huh, I've always assumed that a bodega is a shop akin to those Japanese 7-11 stores. Like the kinda store that you see in those CCTV recordings of horses breaking through automatic store doors.
So after reading through all the valuable comments here it seems like a bodega is a way to say you live in New York while trying to not seem like you're bragging about it but you actually try to brag about it
As someone who used to travel to NYC a lot, bodegas are a marvel because the supermarkets are crazy expensive. I still can't believe millions of people live like that.
NYC here.
If someone asked the average New Yorker what a bodega was, the most probable answer is "What are you, stupid?"
Not me, because I would be mugging you.
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