FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 4, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
The Race to Deliver
will eat into their profi ts and community service
ing 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 ridehailing
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 low-hanging 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 low-income 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.
“Th ey’re coming here, they’re looking
for a job, owners of bodegas are looking
for people to hire,” he said. “It’s a simple
Muhammad Esa owner of Farm Shop Deli in Park Slope.
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.
Th ey 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 aft er 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. Th e only thing
that could be diff erent from that experience
is that the guy that is coming from
the bodega, I know the guy, and that is
powerful.”
“Th e sandwiches, the coff ee, 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.
Th e store, which off ers 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 aft er 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. Th is is real life.
Th ose 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. “Th ey 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
‘Th is 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 Th e Race
to Deliver series will focus on real estate
and transit impacts of the grocery deliv-
Farm Shop Deli in Park Slope has been around for two decades. ery apps.
/WWW.QNS.COM
