StreetLevel: Bodega Goes Up in Smoke
The Vargas Mini-Market, a bodega at the corner of Bond and Warren, was shut down late last week. According to the restraining order affixed to the shuttered business, it was closed for the “sale of untaxed cigarettes.” While the closure of a single bodega isn’t all that interesting, it’s the first time we’ve seen a…
The Vargas Mini-Market, a bodega at the corner of Bond and Warren, was shut down late last week. According to the restraining order affixed to the shuttered business, it was closed for the “sale of untaxed cigarettes.” While the closure of a single bodega isn’t all that interesting, it’s the first time we’ve seen a store shut down (and publicly reprimanded) for selling untaxed smokes. We’re wondering if the city is cracking down on bodegas for this sort of shady behavior, whether it was an isolated incident, or if this is commonplace. Anyone know of this happening at other stores recently? GMAP
As a previous commenter alluded, they did indeed open up again a couple of days later, though I’ve noticed that so far there’s been nobody hanging around outside anymore–a marked difference from before. And yeah, I do think that’s EXACTLY what somebody had in mind. Seems likely the developers next door dropped a dime. Too much of a coincidence that this occurs just when it looks like they’re putting the finishing touches on that building. The sketchy bodega vs. the yuppie condo, it’s a fight to the death, no doubt, and I’ll give you three guesses who wins in the end. But as others have stated, as a neighborhood resident I would not miss the Vargas, everything in that place is caked with crud, not even to mention the sketchy types hanging around selling weed and tossing their trash on the sidewalk etc. In any case, culture clash, coming up!
The sketchy types hanging outside must be criminals since they’re not white.
I lived at 500 Warren St. in the 40’s and would pass that area going to and from Nathan Hale. There was always a bunch of guys on that corner shooting craps.
Who wouldn’t want to pay 600k for a one bedroom apartment and be next door to a bodega that smells like rat poison and constantly is surrounded by littering vagrants? I HAVE A FEEEEEELING that new apartment buliding has something to do with this. Funny to see the real estate broker’s in their suits outside showing the apartment while dudes drank there King Cobras and just stared at them. What a shit hole that bodega is though…. Now I see it has returned like the phoenix from its menthol ashes, I have to admire their fight to stay open.
– Warren Street Resident
VARGASM INI MARKET!
4:29 = The tWhat. Bitter Jersey-ite
I bet Bloomie’s block is quiet.
@4:29
That’s what you get for banning smoking in bars.
Hello law of unintended consequences.
They get a warning once or twice, and if they don’t change their ways the place gets shut down (temporarily). Also, the manager probably got hit with a misdemeanor charge (which will promptly plead out to a noncriminal violation). This is really nothing out of the ordinary.
ps. Like it or not, 4:29 really does make a pretty good point.
pps. Mr. B the comments server really is screwed up, every time I hit ‘post’ my browser craps out. When I reload the page in a new session the comment usually ends up showing up after a few minutes… but there’s no guarantee. It’s been like this for a while, you should really look into fixing it.