Bad News for Bed Stuy Bodegas
From a Bed-Stuy Patch article written by a real estate broker: “Let your friends know you heard it here first: Bed Stuy mixed-use property is about to explode. When this happens, start the clock on your local bodegas. Because in about five years, their time will be up.” Photo by gkjarvis
Snark! As Cobble would say, “snort!” : )
What, rob? What?
> oh montrose…
Indeed. How dare you write a thoughtful response based on actual, lived experience!
[STEPPING INTO THE ROOM]
wasder, I hate to interrupt, but please check your damn email!!!
[STEPPING OUT OF THE ROOM]
oh montrose…
*rob*
(And at BJ’s of course I had to buy a case of gauze and tape because they didn’t have smaller sizes.)
Also, since when is WAWA the “classy” version of Sev? Did they rebrand?
I have to say, having experienced both, the bodegas of Bed Stuy are veritable Fairways compared to the bodegas of Jersey City. One Sunday afternoon my husband cut his hand really badly. It was 4 PM (and a Sunday), so naturally the local pharmacy was closed. While he sat at home with a sock wrapped around the wound I went to the four nearest bodegas looking for bandages, antiseptic ointment, or — hell, even bandaids.
Finally, at the fourth place, the owner pulled out a couple of bandaids from a first aid kit he had behind the counter.
I brought them home, realized they weren’t going to do the job and walked to BJ’s Wholesale outlet instead.
OK, my turn. There is nothing disgusting, elitest or moonfaced about wanting decent food in one’s neighborhood. That goes for whether or not you are in the hood or the Heights. Bodegas are not evil, and no matter what happens in BS, they will not go away. They serve a need.
When I moved to BS 25 years ago, I thought our corner bodega was the greatest thing, in many ways. Instead of trucking 5 blocks to a really awful large supermarket, I could run to the end of my block before work and pick up a carton of milk, or cat food. They were, and should be convenience stores, and as such, can carry items that people need all the time, and yeah, that includes beer, soda and cigarettes.
It was great that my Yemeni bodega owner knew me, greeted me when I shopped there, asked about my family, and on rare occasions, let me owe him if I didn’t bring enough money with me, which I paid back immediately. To me, that is what living in a NYC urban neighborhood is about. I still drop in and say hi, when I’m over there. He worked hard, lived nearby, and put up with a lot, including incredibly rude and ignorant people, robberies, and drug dealers using his store as a drop-off. When one of his employees tried to kick the dealers out, he got beaten to a pulp.
Today, the overt dealers are gone, and the police have made the street much safer, as has a new economic spirit on the block. I hope people like him remain, with their bodegas, and are able to keep providing necessary services. THAT’s the kind of bodega we need.
That said, there are way too many in Bed Stuy that are filthy, overpriced, drug stores, and I’m not talking aspirin here, and involved in all kinds of stuff not legal, being basically fronts. They need to go. It has nothing to do with organic lettuce, and everything to do with a decent quality of life for every resident of the neighborhood. They are not “keeping it real” or contributing anything to the community. I will not mourn their passing.
Yes but the fact that he’s never been there might provide us with an outside, non-conflicted, rational opinion.
Ya think????
🙁