BRONX TIMES REPORTER, N BTR OV. 5-11, 2021 9
they’re getting less money, and
then, you know, the more affl uent
people like landlords are
saying, ‘Oh, it’s time to raise
rent again, everything is back
to normal.’ It’s just widening
the gap.”
The potential to adapt
Bello launched My Bodega
Online, a delivery platform
for bodegas, last year. Many
were already delivering informally,
he said, when customers
would call up wanting
something and they’d send out
an employee who wasn’t busy
on a bike or e-bike.
The app makes ordering
and delivering easier and
more effi cient for bodegas and
their customers, and makes
the process a little more offi -
cial for customers who might
not be used to calling up to
place an order.
Adapting to the new reality
and keeping up with technology
is critical if bodegas want
to stay competitive, Bello said.
“They are so big,” he said
of the new delivery services.
“Bodegas are not seeing what
is coming. Because they’re going
to, if not destroy, they’re
going to modify the bodegas.
Bodegas, if they don’t disappear,
they will be kind of the
daily sandwich kind of thing,
you go to buy lottos, that kind
of thing, but the grocery part
will not be as strong there.”
Ten years ago, Bello said,
taxi services — not just yellow
cabs, but private companies
who riders would call when
they needed a ride — were
an integral part of the fabric
of New York City, a longtime
and iconic part of its streets.
But the advent of cheaper ridehailing
apps like Uber and
Lyft turned that upside down.
“They had capital, they
were the famous people in
our parades, they were on every
corner of the city,” he said.
“And they disappeared. There
are a few here and there,
they’ve even tried putting out
an app, but they kind of disappeared
in the infl uence, in the
numbers, and we all use Uber
or Lyft.”
“That is coming, it’s upon
us.”
Members of the New York
Taxi Workers Alliance have
been gathering outside City
Hall every day since September,
protesting what they call
a lackluster plan proposed by
the city in March to relieve
crushing debt accrued when
medallion prices soared and
made worse when ride-hailing
apps changed the fabric
of the business. Many of those
drivers have been on a hunger
strike since Oct. 20.
Needs not met by software
While they’ve expanded
quickly, Bello noted that most
of the apps are sticking to the
same areas within the city –
Manhattan, though most don’t
broach the island’s northernmost
neighborhoods, parts of
Queens like Astoria and Long
Island City, and Brooklyn
neighborhoods like Williamsburg
and Downtown Brooklyn.
“I understand, it’s lowhanging
fruit, you want to go
where there’s higher income,
better users of technology and
whatnot,” Bello said.
Mubarez said the bodegas
in those areas are the ones
most likely to take a blow to
business as the apps expand
and become more popular —
and those stores are also the
ones that were already struggling
with fewer customers
and less revenue during the
pandemic.
“When you’re talking
about food deserts and lowincome
neighborhoods, I
don’t think these websites accept
EBT or food stamps or
anything like that,” he said.
“Again, it’s not going into the
neighborhoods the bodegas
are serving.”
A large number of corner
stores are immigrant-owned
and operated, and they’re a
cornerstone for many families,
Mubarez said.
“They’re coming here,
they’re looking for a job, owners
of bodegas are looking for
people to hire,” he said. “It’s a
simple job, but it pays well, and
it comes with enough work to
keep you busy. If you’re talking
about specifi c Yemeni immigrants,
that’s the only option
they have. They barely
know the language, they don’t
know what to do, and their
cousin or their brother has a
store, and it’s the fi rst thing
they jump into.”
Bello used one of the apps
after he stayed overnight in
Williamsburg recently, he
said, and he was impressed.
“In 14 minutes, I got my
product,” he said. “I lost, I lost
the game. The only thing that
could be different from that
experience is that the guy that
is coming from the bodega, I
know the guy, and that is powerful.”
“The sandwiches, the coffee,
the gossip,” he said. “You
go to the bodega to know
what’s going on on the corner,
right, there’s a community
component. How do you
create a substitution for that?
Maybe I’m a romantic, but the
bodega is part of the fabric of
New York.”
Jay Son, who owns Green
Ivy Organic in Gowanus, isn’t
too concerned about the grocery
delivery apps.
The store, which offers
an array of fresh fruits, vegetables,
and fresh fl owers, is
slightly larger than a regular
bodega, and is only a block
away from the R-train subway
stop. Park Slopers headed
home from work like to stop in
after they get off the train, he
said.
Son thinks that the grocery
delivery apps don’t carry as
many items as his store does.
He also believes that customers
like to pick out groceries
for themselves and enjoy the
human interaction.
“People still wanna come
and check out the products,”
Son said. “And then some
people enjoy shopping. This
is real life. Those apps aren’t
real life. People want to come
and talk to the cashier about
their day.”
‘The sleeping giant’
Mubarez said bodegas are
hardy, but not invulnerable —
and he hopes the companies
themselves or the city will take
action to protect them.
“I’m not going to say we’re
not worried, I’m getting a lot
of people who are sending me
these links, that’s why I’ve
heard of JOKR,” Mubarez said.
“They have these maps of like,
coverage areas that they have,
and whenever they come out
the deli owner sends them to
me, he’s like ‘This is in my area,
what should I do?’”
“We have to make sure
they’re taking our people into
consideration, if they’re not,
they’re facing the sleeping giant
who is no longer sleeping.”
Next week’s installment of
The Race to Deliver series will focus
on real estate and transit impacts
of the grocery delivery apps.
An earlier version contained
the incorrect byline. We regret
any confusion which may have
resulted.
Green Ivy Organic offers a large variety of produce, fresh fl owers, and grocery items. Photo by Gabriele
Holtermann
Farm Shop Deli in Park Slope has been around for two decades. Photo by
Gabriele Holtermann