At the Bodega, Customers Can Get Pork Rinds, Plantains and Just About Anything They Need. Here’s How These Stores Became a 'Community Anchor' of Latino Life
As morning light fills New York City’s crevices, residents shuffle into their closest bodega, lining up for a fresh cup of coffee and a hot breakfast sandwich. These are only the first of hundreds of customers the bodeguero will serve throughout the day. Offering everything from hot chicharrones and fresh plátanos to toothbrushes and toilet paper, bodegas are the caulk of city life—corner stores stuffed to the brim, filling the gaps between visits to the butcher, the bakery and other specialty shops. But their importance extends beyond being general stores: Bodegas are neighborhood hubs, crucial resources for Latino immigrants as they navigate life in a new country. They “serve a purpose that’s a lot more than just giving people ingredients,” says Tey Marianna Nunn, associate director of content and interpretation for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino. “Their real role is more of a community anchor.” The term “bodega” is Spanish for “wine cellar,” and it later be