For many New Yorkers, the corner bodega is more than a convenience.
Somewhere between a deli and a grocery store, the tiny shops stuffed with life-giving essentials (like chopped cheese) are a fierce source of pride for millions across the five boroughs. When residents of The Big Apple got wind of two former Google execs' plan to disrupt bodegas with the vending-machine-like "Bodega Box," they took to social media to confront the latest perversion of New York's sacred bodega.
Two ex-Googlers want to make bodegas and mom-and-pop corner stores obsolete https://t.co/FLaYGdwmFr pic.twitter.com/pqkWJ40xdW
— Fast Company (@FastCompany) September 13, 2017
Wealthy tech bros are so uncomfortable interacting w working class POC that they think a glorified vending machine is better than a bodega. https://t.co/wPWhfkwBrx
— vero bayetti flores (@veroconplatanos) September 13, 2017
If you think this is a threat to the bodega, you should go to a bodega for the first time in your life. https://t.co/T7Wf5azZoj
— Philip Bump (@pbump) September 13, 2017
Weird that they're calling this heinous vending machine "Bodega" and not "Gentrification Box" https://t.co/xPCozclRRD
— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) September 13, 2017
The idea you can make a "Bodega box" shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of a Bodega in the first place
— Shyne Coldchain Jr. (@Smooth_Orator) September 13, 2017
You not getting one magnum, a chopped cheese sangwich and a Dutch from a bodega box foh b
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) September 13, 2017
Seeing all these tweets about the bodega killers
— Daniel Kay Hertz (@DanielKayHertz) September 13, 2017
:whispers: zoning has killed more bodegas than any Googlers could possibly hope to
Nor is that ‘Bodega’ box gonna let me come back and bring the $5 I owe later because I forgot my wallet at home so
— Akazette (@IcebergAk) September 13, 2017
I don't think people would have a problem with this if they didn't name it Bodega and say there were going after the Bodega market. https://t.co/BzSyv0P5Hx
— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) September 13, 2017
With friendly felines, lucky lottery tickets and chummy lines of credit, New York's 10,000-plus bodegas are hard to define. They are even harder to put into a box.
After a tumultuous day on social media, Bodega responded to critics on its blog. The company claims it is not trying to put corner stores out of business.
"Despite our best intentions and our admiration for traditional bodegas, we clearly hit a nerve this morning," Bodega co-founder and CEO Paul McDonald wrote. "Rather than disrespect to traditional corner stores — or worse yet, a threat — we intended only admiration."
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)