The people who say bodega is like a gas station store are foolish jealous burger americans who think it’s regular to live in shit bland cities with only chain amenities. But in the not-wasteland places, other world-class megacities like Sheffield, Mombasa, Leipzig, etc, all have independantly and swarthily operated corner shops with matted cats and weird (locally specific) foods. In the UK they have a word like bodega that contains a racial slur
I mean. Its not as culturally significant on the global stage as Leeds, I know, but that’s an impossible standard to live up to