The Myth of the Bodega

dailyheights · August 2005

Some people in Prospect Heights avoid shopping at the corner bodega because they think it's more expensive than making the trek to Key/Met Foods or a chain drug store. Not so! Case in point: the Rite Aid on 7th Ave. recently charged almost 3 dollars for 2 16-oz. bottles of seltzer; whereas the typical bodega here charges $1 per bottle. So that's a 50% premium. Ditto with pet food, coffee, milk, eggs... what's your experience? Take a look at the price tag next time you buy.

PICTURED: This is Josh Goldstein of BodegaNYC.com, who sent us this picture of himself standing in front of Espinal Grocery at the corner of Sterling Pl. and Underhill Ave.

candicissima · August 2005

Subject: Re: The Myth of the Bodega

dailyheights wrote: Some people in Prospect Heights avoid shopping at the corner bodega because they think it's more expensive than making the trek to Key/Met Foods or a chain drug store. Not so! Case in point: the Rite Aid on 7th Ave. recently charged almost 3 dollars for 2 16-oz. bottles of seltzer; whereas the typical bodega here charges $1 per bottle. So that's a 50% premium. Ditto with pet food, coffee, milk, eggs... what's your experience? Take a look at the price tag next time you buy.

People actually think that? That's like all backwards. Isn't the whole "point" (suspect choice of word I know) with a bodega supposed to be that it's cheap? Who are these people? Are they not from a city?

carnivore · August 2005

They're cheap for most stuff, but it depends on the item. Bodegas are usually more expensive for ice cream, for example.

11238 · August 2005

I've noticed that most people outside of NYC have no idea what a Bodega is..

It's fun trying to explain it...

A small supermarket that mostly sells beer and cheap stuff.... I never seem to have a good definition....

alafairnadia · August 2005

Subject: Re: The Myth of the Bodega

dailyheights wrote: Some people in Prospect Heights avoid shopping at the corner bodega because they think it's more expensive than making the trek to Key/Met Foods or a chain drug store. Not so! Case in point: the Rite Aid on 7th Ave. recently charged almost 3 dollars for 2 16-oz. bottles of seltzer; whereas the typical bodega here charges $1 per bottle. So that's a 50% premium. Ditto with pet food, coffee, milk, eggs... what's your experience? Take a look at the price tag next time you buy.

ahh, but for a 2 ltr bottle of seltzer the Met will charge somewhere around .89 or .99 cents, and the competing bodegas at the corners of St. Johns & Washington charge $1.50. Which isn't really so much of an issue cause I'll do almost anything for seltzer and to avoid having to carry it more than a block. But yeah.

rhodamine · August 2005

http://www.citynoise.org/article/1486

alafairnadia · August 2005

rhodamine wrote: http://www.citynoise.org/article/1486

which do you prefer: steve's or galed? I used to be a diehard steve's fan, but then decided to go with the lights (since I have to cross a street to get to one of them) and, as such, end up at galed a lot more often.

photo assignment for one of us: pix of the cats at each bodega keeping the bodegas nice and pest free. yelison's and galed's are the ones I see most often.

rhodamine · August 2005

alafairnadia wrote: [quote=rhodamine]http://www.citynoise.org/article/1486

which do you prefer: steve's or galed? I used to be a diehard steve's fan, but then decided to go with the lights (since I have to cross a street to get to one of them) and, as such, end up at galed a lot more often.

photo assignment for one of us: pix of the cats at each bodega keeping the bodegas nice and pest free. yelison's and galed's are the ones I see most often.

galeds. i went in stevens once, when we first moved to the hood, and havent been back since. the tattered awning reminds me of tattered underpants, for some reason, and i cant deal with shopping at a place that flies their tattered undies on the street like that :shock:

carnivore · August 2005

I'm a big fan of the A OCIAT D AS OCI TED on St Johns and Underhill, but that might be because it's right next door to me.

rhodamine · August 2005

Carnivore wrote: I'm a big fan of the A OCIAT D AS OCI TED on St Johns and Underhill, but that might be because it's right next door to me.

http://www.citynoise.org/article/1081

daveb · August 2005

Steve's and Galed's both take a fucked up amount of abuse from the scum that frequents that area. It's pretty common for me to pop in there and see some wasted fuck threatening to kill them, calling them all sorts of "towel-head" oriented shit. I watched some drunk dick smash out Steve's front glass door about a month ago. Walking down the street, chucks his bottle, smashes the door, doesn't even break stride.

rhodamine · August 2005

daveb wrote: Steve's and Galed's both take a fucked up amount of abuse from the scum that frequents that area. It's pretty common for me to pop in there and see some wasted fuck threatening to kill them, calling them all sorts of "towel-head" oriented shit. I watched some drunk dick smash out Steve's front glass door about a month ago. Walking down the street, chucks his bottle, smashes the door, doesn't even break stride.

weird. ive been in galed a zillion times, usually late, often at teh window... and never witnessed anything like that. though i did see the broken door.

maybe i should be glad i dont go to steves! :idea: :idea: :idea:

daveb · August 2005

Carnivore wrote: I'm a big fan of the A OCIAT D AS OCI TED on St Johns and Underhill, but that might be because it's right next door to me.

They're nice guys, even if their store consistently reeks of cat pee.

I actually witnessed some scary shit with them. I too used to live right there and one day I was leaving my building with a friend and we stood on the sidewalk waiting for our ride. Anyways, i hear all this yelling and look over and this guy is walking out of the store, yelling something along the lines of "Fuck you..." Right behind him, one of the young guys that works there comes running out with a baseball bat chasing after him. The first guy turns around, sees the bat and starts running till he hits this big pile of homeboys that hang out on the steps there. With his buddies backing him, the guy gets his balls back and turns around and they all start screaming at the guy, telling him he's dead and they're going to burn his store down. The kid with the bat runs back to his store and stays there. Turns out (I asked both groups) the guy had gone in to the store, bought something and as he was leaving, knocked something off the shelf. The kid behind the counter told him to pick it up and the other guy told him to go screw himself. It was a bit retarded, but considering how most of these bodega owners are treated here, not so surprising.

bluedove · August 2005

Wow, that sucks. I'm a regular at Nashal (Park & Classon) and those guys are awesome...super-friendly and helpful. They even let me in one night after hours to get money from the ATM to pay for a cab. (It's 24-hour, but they switch over to one of those revolving windows after 1 am or so). It's kind of a hang-out, and I've seen some questionable exchanges, but nothing nearly as scary as what you describe happening at the places on Washington.

alafairnadia · August 2005

rhodamine wrote: [quote=daveb]Steve's and Galed's both take a fucked up amount of abuse from the scum that frequents that area. It's pretty common for me to pop in there and see some wasted fuck threatening to kill them, calling them all sorts of "towel-head" oriented shit. I watched some drunk dick smash out Steve's front glass door about a month ago. Walking down the street, chucks his bottle, smashes the door, doesn't even break stride.

weird. ive been in galed a zillion times, usually late, often at teh window... and never witnessed anything like that. though i did see the broken door.

maybe i should be glad i dont go to steves! :idea: :idea: :idea:

wow, yeah, I don't think I've ever witnessed anything really violent. the freakiest bodega experiences I have are either at Yelison or the place near Lincoln on the same side of the street as Galed.

I am surprised by how people treat the merchandise in these stores -- throwing stuff around, being relatively rude. they're always really nice to me because I say stuff like please and thank you and put things back where I found them if I don't want them.

daveb · August 2005

rhodamine wrote: weird. ive been in galed a zillion times, usually late, often at teh window... and never witnessed anything like that. though i did see the broken door.

maybe i should be glad i dont go to steves! :idea: :idea: :idea:

I see that stuff going on at Galed most of all.

"Hey you, Iraqi piece if shit. Make me a fucking sandwich. I want that honey turkey. That's all you giving me? I'll fucking break your face. I'm fucking talking to you. Gimme my motherfucking sandwich beofre I beat the shit out of you, stupid fuck, you understand English?!?"

Stuff like that, a little more than 50% of the time I go in there, which is somethin like 3 or 4 times a month. Usually I do Yellison.

rhodamine · August 2005

daveb wrote: I see that stuff going on at Galed most of all."

weird. ive made friends with saal and abdul and ive seen most peole treat them with a fair amount of respect. maybe i just go at off-times, cause im actually there alot. i get cheese sandwiches sometimes, and have discovered that being nice and saying please gets you about 1" of muenster on that sandwich, and free tomatoes

that sucks though, that they get treated like that

daveb · August 2005

rhodamine wrote: [quote=daveb]I see that stuff going on at Galed most of all."

weird. ive made friends with saal and abdul and ive seen most peole treat them with a fair amount of respect. maybe i just go at off-times, cause im actually there alot. i get cheese sandwiches sometimes, and have discovered that being nice and saying please gets you about 1" of muenster on that sandwich, and free tomatoes

that sucks though, that they get treated like that

Yeah, those guys really appreciate a little common human courtesy such as hello, please and thank you. They're genuinely polite and nice guys that are happy and eager to see you, sometimes I think because it gives them a few minutes of civility from a day's worth of dealing with piggish assholes. I often leave feeling sorry for them.

whyfi · August 2005

11238 wrote: I've noticed that most people outside of NYC have no idea what a Bodega is..

It's fun trying to explain it...

A small supermarket that mostly sells beer and cheap stuff.... I never seem to have a good definition....

People rely on public transportation more here- fewer people have cars. That means that you rely on convenient shops in and around the neighborhood a lot more. Until I moved to NY, I'd never walked to the store on a grocery shopping trip! Outside of NY, if it's convenience that you're after, you stop at the gas station, not the bodega. Having everything within walking distance is one of the great and terrible things that makes New York... well, New York.

dailyheights · August 2005

Recently overheard at Saba on Underhill Ave.:

(Man holds open door for older woman on crutches)
Woman: Well thank you sir, you are very kind.
Man: You are, too.
Woman: Well, thank you for that.
(Pause)
Man: One compliment deserves another.
Woman: That's right. Mutual admiration.

anonymous · August 2005

Subject: depends

i am a price shopper. a bodega is a place to get things for convenience. bottled soda in two, liters is cheaper at the grocery. so is food in general. but things like bottles and cans of soda usually are not. though 16 oz. sodas are $1 at key food on flatbush. so i think it depends on what you purchase. rite ad is a pharmacy so they get you on water and other items.

i think you just have to price things out. maybe not every does. it is all relative.

The Myth of the Bodega

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