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City Facing Crippling Bodega Shortage?
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Mar 12, 2011
Modified Mar 13, 2011
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Mar 12, 2011
Modified Mar 13, 2011
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We know that your local Duane Reade is stocking beer now, but it's just that sort of majestic one-stop convenience that seems to be killing the bodega. According to the 2010 CPEX Retail Report (below) rents are spiking in former bodega havens like the East Village, the Bowery and Bedford Avenue. Many bodega owners say their rents are too damn high, and are thinking of following the Koreans and getting out of the business. “Bodegas are a dying breed,” Lisa Kaplan, Chief of Staff for City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, told the Local. “The fact that the chains and pharmacies are carrying more products that bodegas used to sell, is adding greatly to the pressure." And who will care for all the bodega cats?
According to the 2009 NYC Hispanic Business Survey [pdf], 53 percent of Hispanic-owned bodegas are at risk of closing; 74 percent cite high rents and 18 percent blame competition from chains retailers. Kurt Cavanaugh of the East Village Community Coalition said, "We have an interesting, unique community here and we don’t want to lose that to Starbucks and McDonald’s and the same old things you’d see from here to Topeka, Kansas." Though for a McDonald's you can go to First Avenue and East 6th Street. But according to Ramon Murphy, president of The Bodegas Association of the United States, 137 bodegas on Broadway from 230th Street to 197th Street shut down last year. Take it away, Dead Kennedys:
CPEX Real Estate 2010Retail Report
Tagged
bodega
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duane reade
east village
Jaya Saxena
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