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.

Wait till I tell Americans that small discount supermarkets exist within walking distance in Denmark.

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.

As a New Yorker... I mean yeah what did you expect? The only real difference is that bodegas typically serve a wide variety of hot foods that are actually good. Other than that its just a small store, many other places have them.

spreads cheeks to identify self as not a cop to purchase illegal weed

That's not true. A bodega is a corner store with a plexiglass container for staff because they're in a shithole.

Ok but conbis are actually pretty great. That or I just like beer and onigiri with a short walk

I ain't explaining shit. It's a bodega, fuck you. Have a nice day.

I'm originally from South Jersey. I grew up in a small city where everywhere was a family owned, Corner Store. Or just the "Store". We didn't call it anything different. I don't know where "Bodega" came from.

Hey man, sometimes they have cats

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.

My understanding is that at least one type of bodega is known for taking a relatively short list of ingredients and making a wide variety of food out of them.

We've got a couple of places like that down here in Hampton Roads - the Sun and Moon deli, for example: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nALYSXamP-ksJG9N1C2qjB59ytRqYb56/view (menu)

I love that mix of stuff of which some of it seemingly is random, but it really does re-use a lot of the same stuff.

The lamb over rice is just fantastic. Everything we've had has been. Not on that menu, but they have a Jamaican meat patty and it's clear it's made homemade in-house. It's so tasty.

I know both of these placs down here in Newport News are separate, but both run by folks from Yemen. Well, I don't know what's up there, but I 100% approve of Yemini-run bodegas down here. They're delightful! :)