Bodega (store)

A bodega is a small owner-operated convenience store serving hot and prepared food, often open late hours and typically with ethnic market influences.

[6] In Spanish, bodega is a term for "storeroom" or "wine cellar", or "warehouse", with a similar origin to the words "boutique" and "apothecary"; the precise meaning varies regionally in the Spanish language, and the later New York City term evolved from Puerto Rican and Cuban usage for "small grocery".

The more specific meaning of a type of New York City Puerto Rican convenience-store only came about in the mid-20th century, with the first print appearance in Time in 1956;[9] though the term has also been applied retrospectively to such establishments as far back as the 1920s–30s.

[14] Although they were initially documented in the 1930s (a 50th anniversary was marked on Spanish-language radio station WADO in 1986), the first bodega may have opened even earlier.

[17] Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at CUNY Hunter College owns a collection of historical bodega photography.

[19] Yemeni business owners led a campaign of bodega closures in February 2017 in protest of the Trump travel ban.