Times are hard for Mom and Pop

August 8, 2008 1:03 AM

Manhattan's bodegas are struggling to survive, and Brooklyn's butcher shops are vanishing. But don't worry, New Yorkers are in no danger of running out of Dunkin' Donuts outlets.

The Center for an Urban Future recently issued a report (pdf) on the number and distribution of chain stores within the city. The best that fans of mom-and-pop stores can hope for might be peaceful coexistence.

posted by Knappster (36 comments total)

Problem #1: Lead article appeared in the LA Times, not the NY.
posted by allkindsoftime at 1:58 AM on August 8, 2008 [2 favorites]

my neighborhood bodega was a shaithole, truth be told. well it didn't help that it was in washington heights in the 80's, but seriously. they had a meat storage section, under glass, that was seriously gross. also, the cutting board....hello! health inspectors. it was kool for single cigarettes and the illegal numbers game though...
posted by billybobtoo at 2:28 AM on August 8, 2008

Whoa, they still have Dunkin Donuts in NY? Over here in Oregon, every location I know of has been replaced with something similar, like "Daynight Donuts" or "Yummy Donuts," the new signs for which still use the same color scheme and rip off the overall design as much as possible. The last one to be replaced still has actual Dunkin Donuts promotional materials hanging from the windows.

I'm wondering if Krispy Kreme, in their short-lived fervor of expansion, didn't somehow oust them from our local market, only to dwindle shortly thereafter themselves. Bastards!
posted by Clamwacker at 4:08 AM on August 8, 2008

Here in Chicago there's continuous discussion of how these corner grocery stores are a blight that needs to be eliminated. They have low quality, high prices, poor selection, worse healthy selection, etc. Areas are called "food ghettos" because they have these things and not larger grocery stores.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 4:20 AM on August 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Pave paradise, put up a Starbucks shop.
posted by AppleSeed at 4:32 AM on August 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Hard times for mom and pop? Who do you think owns and runs the DD franchise that just opened?
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:43 AM on August 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ah, NY bodegas, I remember them well. My old neighborhood of Fort Greene, Brooklyn was full of 'em. And they were pretty useless, truth be told. How many cans of frikkin Goya beans can you buy, anyway?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:00 AM on August 8, 2008

Funny enough, the Laundromat my mom used since we moved to Brooklyn in the early 90s has been replaced with a DD's. I live directly between three large commercial streets on the south side Brooklyn (Kings Highway, Bay Parkway & 86th St.); every third store seems to be closing down. Banks and condos (who the hell is buying these condos?) seem to be more popular than chain stores, though.

And bodegas are nice if you get a good one and make yourself regular. The Pakistani dude that runs the one around the corner sells me (good) beer at $1.50 a bottle. The one near my old place sold me smokes at a massive discount and always piled the meat sky-high on my sandwiches. Not to mention the concept of 'credit' (as in: "I'm two bucks short, can I give it to you tomorrow?") still existing.
posted by griphus at 6:29 AM on August 8, 2008

The nice couple that own the Dunkin Donuts near my house recently had a new baby and they brought him in and let some of the regular customers hold him and coo over him.

They smile at me and I don't have to call out my order, they just get it for me.

If that is some kind of franchised corporate hell, then whatever, y'all.
posted by neat-o at 6:34 AM on August 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

starbucks are closing 11 stores in manhattan. i think everyone is struggling at the moment.

NY has 11,000 bodegas. where i live there's at least one on every block. there's be about 30 within 5 minutes walk from my apartment.
posted by bhnyc at 6:40 AM on August 8, 2008

What the world really needs is a mom & pop check cashing facility where you can buy liquor, coffee, sandwiches and all the Goya products they can muster. And more head shops.
posted by jsavimbi at 6:43 AM on August 8, 2008

a robot, I think you meant to say "fast food restaurants" and "food deserts". Corner groceries may not be ideal, but they're better than a McFatburger.

In 'food deserts' of city, healthy eating a mirage: Study: More fast food, fewer grocers for blacks.
posted by dhartung at 6:44 AM on August 8, 2008

We had a... less-genteel little donut shop of the corner of 5th and 9th called "Dee Dee's Donuts". I wasn't a big fan, but I was sort of weirded out by the way a Duncan's set up shop in an L-shaped store that actually surrounded the older donut shop, like some sort of mean-spirited game of donut tetris. Dee Dee's closed shortly thereafter. It wasn't the nicest place, but at least it actually smelled of donuts when you walked by. Duncan's just smells of window cleaner and bad coffee.
posted by phooky at 6:52 AM on August 8, 2008

I live in a Latino-majority neighborhood in NYC. I'm white.

Some of the local bodegas have not exactly welcomed my business with open arms. I really don't appreciate people mimicking my accent in an affectedly nasal voice, glaring at me or muttering that I am a "maricon" when I just drop by to pick up a bottle of soda, y'know? It's just a business transaction for me. A simple purchase. I don't need all that identity-politics drama.

Fuck it. At least Dunkin' Donuts has halfway decent coffee.

Suffice to say that I do not like bodegas very much and will not mourn their eventual disappearance from the NYC retail landscape.
posted by jason's_planet at 7:15 AM on August 8, 2008

"It suffices to say"

Oy. I need some coffee.
posted by jason's_planet at 7:18 AM on August 8, 2008

I had three corner stores in my Duboce Triangle neighborhood in San Francisco, the one on Castro had great produce and good sandwiches. The one nearest my house was more of a general store but also had a reasonable selection of fresh produce. He kept doggie treats at the counter and would take packages from UPS for nearby neighbors if they weren't home to accept them. The third was good too and they made sandwiches. There was another that I never used since the location wasn't that convenient but they had homemade hummus and babaganoush. In a hilly place like SF and where not everyone has a car, the corner store is important. If you're walking you sometimes choose your route and store based on hill steepness.
posted by shoesietart at 7:30 AM on August 8, 2008

Sorta related: Dunkin Donuts is planning to open 100 locations in Minnesota. This Masshole could not be happier.
posted by lunasol at 7:59 AM on August 8, 2008

Some of the local bodegas have not exactly welcomed my business with open arms.

Interesting. I'm as white a it gets and I've spent weeks living at a friend's apartment in Sunset Park on the corner of 5th Ave while dog sitting. Every morning I would go to the bodega or taqueria or bakery and get food and drink. Then in the evening I would go to the taquerias or restaurants and get food. Never once in the entire time did get looks or mockery or 'maricon'. In fact, I got friendliness as I tried my pathetic spanish with them.

I love bodegas. They have character and they feel personal. They are also open all night. And they sell beer. One of my fave things about living in NYC.
posted by spicynuts at 8:03 AM on August 8, 2008

I have to agree with some of the sentiment here that I won't miss the mom and pop stores if they go. It seems to me like the ones around my city are usually dirty, disorganized, aren't open as late, and provide inconsistent customer service compared to the chain stores like 7-Eleven, Plaid Pantry, RiteAid, etc.
posted by wastelands at 8:03 AM on August 8, 2008

Wasetlands..what is 'your city'? The post is specifically about NYC bodegas, which, in my experience living in NYC, LA, Boston and sort of Detroit, are a different animal.
posted by spicynuts at 8:27 AM on August 8, 2008

I just got home from a week away for work, so I just stepped out to get a few essentials. At the first bodega I bought a half gallon of organic milk (for about the same as it costs at Steve's C-Town, my local supermarket). The second stop was a local coffee shop to buy a pound of fair trade coffee, and the third was another bodega where they make better sandwiches than anywhere else in the neighborhood.

Suck it, Dunkin Donuts.
posted by ben242 at 8:45 AM on August 8, 2008

Fried dough != pastrami.

I rest my case.
posted by Freen at 8:55 AM on August 8, 2008

It's a shame about that Park Slope butcher; sounds like the original owner's daughter just wants to maximize her rent for the property. There are quire a few of these places, though (based on my experiences in the Slope in the early 90s) that were so poorly stocked and run that I used to wonder if some of them were fronts for mob money laundering.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:24 AM on August 8, 2008

Some of the local bodegas have not exactly welcomed my business with open arms. I really don't appreciate people mimicking my accent in an affectedly nasal voice, glaring at me or muttering that I am a "maricon" when I just drop by to pick up a bottle of soda, y'know?

Conversely, I also am similarly white and lived in a Latino-majority neighborhood in NYC for 12 years (a month after I moved in, we found out that the owner of the laundromat referred to our building -- which had just recently been opened up to rentals -- as "the building where all the white people live"), and never had a problem with the bodega owners. One of the guys who ran a place on the block, Ignacio, had even appointed himself a sort of neighborhood watch guy and would wave and give me a big smile as I passed by his place when I was walking home from the subway. I was quickly reassured that if I ever had any trouble when I was walking out on the street, I would always be able to run into Ignacio's and be safe.

...I actually started feeling less safe in my block when the gentrification STARTED, because with one lone exception the new shop owners had no such interest in the block as a whole. They were looking out for themselves and that was kind of it. I moved out about a year after Ignacio's store got turned into WD-50.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:31 AM on August 8, 2008

Although overpriced in some things, my local bodegas are a) open 24 hours and b) some of the first familiar faces I met in Hell's Kitchen. Then again, the one on the other corner has some of the surliest service and worst shwarma I've ever tasted.

The Dunkin has great customer service, cleanliness, and speed but loathesome food and... I still don't fucking get you people... very bad coffee. Very, very bad.

My good bodega's "regular coffee" (milk & sugar) is perfect every time and costs $1.25. Their salads aren't great but their sandwiches are pretty good and they have a surprising selection of healthy options, fruits and veggies, actually. May just be the neighborhood though, as other places a block away are pretty gruesome.
posted by abulafa at 10:40 AM on August 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Not A&S Pork Store! Noooooo! I have never had anything bad there. If I hadn't just eaten lunch, I'd go get a big sub right now. I'll be in there on the last day of September buying out every single preserved meat they have left.

Also, rude service at a bodega is the exception, not the rule. Sometimes they're obvious fronts, and sometimes the service is indifferent, but the prices aren't bad and the selection can surprise you. Some'll even order your whitey-white-white microbrew for you.
posted by paul_smatatoes at 10:43 AM on August 8, 2008

Yeah..the Dominican hole in the wall on my corner where I get my empanadas and rice/beans is stocked with really friendly, cute counter girls that are always smiling and talking to me. Dunkin Donuts...not so much. I think we should leave coffee preferences out of this or it will quickly turn into a 200 comment post with name calling.
posted by spicynuts at 11:25 AM on August 8, 2008

Who do you think owns and runs the DD franchise that just opened?

Mom + Pop + store ≠ mom-and-pop store
posted by Knappster at 12:13 PM on August 8, 2008

I lived in a "food ghetto" in Bed-Stuy for a few months and hated the prices and gross ass food of my corner bodega, but the beer and sandwiches were cheap and they were open 24/7. I would go in at 2 or 3am and ask the sandwich guy to "surprise me" and it would always be the best sandwich ever, although I'm surprised I never got food poisoning considering how dirty the place was.

I sometimes still wonder what that guy put on those sandwiches, they ruled.

I'm also about as white as you can get and never had any problems. Actually some of the local business owners near where I was living loved me and were always giving me extra portions of food and stuff because I always tried to be friendly. A lot of the neighborhood kids were extremely rude and verbally abusive, when I first moved there I was shocked at some of the things these 8-15 year old kids would come in and scream at the workers.
posted by bradbane at 12:48 PM on August 8, 2008

The new buildings and signs are just boring.
posted by ginbiafra at 5:56 PM on August 8, 2008

Good post. An article from Chelsea now validating the loss of mom and pop places to chain stores in Chelsea too.

I do feel sad when real people businesses with character and creative individuality are replaced by soulless, banal, cookie cutter franchises of any type.

Been 21 years here in Hell's Kitchen, enjoying lots of bodegas. The Latin ones seemed unfortunately to have become controlled by organized crime and enmeshed in heavy drugs business. I was standing in one some years ago and a classic mobster type came and asked the guy behind the counter for protection money. Scary.

That said, when it was closed down I missed being able to get my favorite sweet, little squares of crema de leche. yum. Jonesing for a fix just writing those words.

Now the bodegas are mostly owned in this hood by incredibly hardworking groups of guys from Yemen, usually at least two on a block. Great prices, superb service, 24/7/365.

Here's a well liked Mexican one a few clocks away, Tehuitzingo.
posted by nickyskye at 7:02 PM on August 8, 2008

I don't need all that identity-politics drama.

Just try to remember that they were there before you, and that they're struggling with a city that's changed more in the past five years than it did in the previous fifteen. I'm not saying anyone has a right to be rude or condescending, but these neighborhoods are under tremendous socioeconomic and ethno-cultural strain. A little sympathy can go a long way.
posted by ornate insect at 7:14 PM on August 8, 2008

Pah. DD has nothing on Tim Hortons. We have a Tim's for every 10000 people in my hometown. It's insane.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:13 PM on August 8, 2008

To put that into perspective, imagine this:

There are about 500 Starbucks in Canada.

There are over 2700 Tim Hortons.

You can't swing a dead cat without knocking over a doughnut shop in this country. And they aren't even good doughnuts! It is a very, very odd Canadian trait.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:44 AM on August 9, 2008

About a half dozen new bodegas have opened in Hamilton Heights over the last year and a half. Several others have been totally renovated. They don't seem to be struggling. On the other hand the neighborhood has just started to gentrify over the last three years or so... Perhaps some of them will go out of business in coming years, but they'll probably be replaced by better stores.

The rents going up and driving out the bodega owners because the neighborhoods are improving, not because of an economic crisis. (Which isn't necessarily to say that there isn't an economic crisis.)
posted by Jahaza at 8:19 PM on August 9, 2008

"There are quire a few of these places, though (based on my experiences in the Slope in the early 90s) that were so poorly stocked and run that I used to wonder if some of them were fronts for mob money laundering.

About two years ago, the butcher shop at 137th and Broadway was raided by the police and padlocked for a week for running an illegal numbers game. And that place was actually pretty well stocked.
posted by Jahaza at 8:22 PM on August 9, 2008