Bodegas New York

NYC convenience stores

Geoffrey from New York

""Bodegas" are NYC convenience stores that are as much an essential part of urban culture as are chippies in Whitley Bay or curry shops in London, England..."

When you're north of 110th Street, or in Queens or Brooklyn, you’ll find yourself in bodega land. Bodegas are small grocery stores, found in every Spanish-speaking neighborhood - Mom and Pop stores - the soulful precursors of the (elsewhere) mysteriously named and ubiquitous 7-11s.

Your first exposure to the word might have come via Paul Simon. In his song Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, he describes a moment between a couple on a date:

"And she said, “Honey take me dancing”

But they ended up by sleeping

In a doorway

By the bodegas and the lights on

Upper Broadway…"

And why do you love that song? Perhaps because of bass player  Bakithi Kumalo's unforgettable bass line which you can watch him play here. An article in the NY Times describes rising traveler interest in bodegas attributing it largely to the social media app TikTok. Bodega employees are posting videos of life in their stores.

One is quoted thus: “I have one commenter, I think from London or something, he said he’s coming to New York and that I’ve got to get him a chopped cheese”. Here is a link to some crazy TikTok posts: one on Dominican culture and another on bodega life, specifically the Math Game.

I wrote elsewhere of chopped cheese sandwiches. The bodega is a source. And, while waiting, look for the cat. Every bodega has a cat. Bodegas represent essential urban culture as do the chippies in Whitley Bay, or the curry shops in Manchester, England.

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New York Spotter Geoffrey

About me I travel to discover how people elsewhere live, how they manage living with low incomes in expensive cities, how they grapple with hard times and failing economies, how they deal with ageing or crumbling families and how they themselves age and adapt. Knowing and loving New York comes from having lived through many of its manifestations while witnessing its changes. Why New York I love New York because of its broad cultural spectrum realized in all forms of the arts, food, technology, politics and transportation, and its easy access to the beautif...

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Amsterdam Avenue 1800

Sandwich:

US$

Oct 20, 2025

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