From Metropolitan to Marcy: A Walking Tour of North Brooklyn's Bodegas

The bodegas of Brooklynare their own breed of convenience store, standing out from the stereotypically pricey trappings of Brooklynland, or whatever we’re calling the hipster-and-stroller communities of the borough this week. Trying to dodge the complicated cuisine in Williamsburg? Dip into the bodega for a $3 turkey sandwich (with Boar’s Head meat!). When you’re invited back to a brownstone after a night of barhopping, you can grab a toothbrush and some contact solution. No matter what Brooklyn neighborhood that rooftop party brings you to, you can get your nicotine and alcohol fix any time, day or night. Just please remember that the credit card minimum is $10.

This is just the surface, these exchanges of cash for goods happening in roughly the same manner in bodegas across the borough. And yet attachments form. How is your neighborhood bodega different from the one a mile away? To take a closer look, we traveled south from the corner of Metropolitan and Union, in Williamsburg, to Marcy and Fulton, in Bed-Stuy, photographing the bodegas we came across. How do bodegas change from hood to hood? Come shop with us.

Written by Brenden Gallagher (@muddycreekU)

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Intersection: Union Ave. and Metropolitan Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: Fool's Gold Record Store, Crest Hardware, Kellogg's Diner

In the popular imagination, Williamsburg is a bohemian theme park for unrazored kids with bikes and tattoos. Urban rustic bars and eccentric warehouse dance clubs stand (aloof) next to vintage stores and greasy spoons serving surprisingly good fried chicken. That's in the popular imagination.

In reality, the hipsterdom of Williamsburg is only one aspect of the neighborhood, just like the Hasidim, the Spanish-speaking community, and the aging working-class Europeans smoking cigars on stoops. But if you're looking for stereotypes, this corner's got 'em. Just look at the plethora of bikes out front.

Intersection: Union Ave. and Grand St.
Notable Sights Nearby: Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Union Cleaners

Three bodegas appeared in rapid succession after the Metro Deli: Mojali Deli Grocery, Grand Gourmet, and Union Deli & Grocery. Bodegas display the personalities and cultures of their owners, and, by extension, the clientele, in small ways. There's no room for the eccentricities and flair of a bar or restaurant; bodegas are too utilitarian for that anyway.

A small Puerto Rican flag in the window, several small Indian candies for sale behind the counter, or a poster full of fútbol honeys—these are the ways convenience stores distinguish themselves.

Intersection: Union Ave. and South 5th St./Montrose Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: Walgreens, NYPD's 90th Precinct

How do bodegas serve so much alcohol you've never seen anywhere else, and may never see again? Granted, you can't order 40s of malt liquor and knock-off energy drink/alcohol combos at most bars, but, with the endless rows of options, bodegas are a Narnia for booze. Behind every refrigerator door is some new concoction to tempt you as you stumble home from that house party and decide you need one last sixer before bed. Hurricane, Crazy Stallion, Silver Thunder, and the rest provide more entertainment value with their packaging than their taste, but the price is usually right. Remember to ask for a brown bag, especially at this location; the 90th Precinct is just across the street.

Intersection: Union Ave. and Harrison Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: N/A (largely residential)

And then the bodegas vanished. The last few blocks of Union, before the avenue turns into Marcy after Flushing Avenue, were dominated by housing complexes where Hasidic Jews live. On the Sunday morning when these photos were taken, the streets were empty, a half-mile of city with few people in sight and no signs of commerce. The housing complexes appeared intimidating, heavily gated and fenced in. They're hermetically-sealed worlds inside of otherwise busy neighborhoods. In the early morning quiet, the toys on the patios and black prams dotting the cement made for a strange sight after the yoga mats and chatter of the blocks around Metropolitan.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Ellery St.
Notable Sights Nearby: Marcy Houses

We'll never understand the displays plastered on the side of bodegas. They're nothing if not consistent: always a random assortment of foods that have no apparent relation to each other, displayed with no concern for scale. The aesthetic is uniform across bodegas. We know, because we've analyzed it. To little avail.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Park Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: Marcy Children's Center

A bodega dotted each of the next short blocks across the street from the Marcy Houses. They looked similar to the bodegas of Williamsburg, but were doing different kind of work. By and large, the bodegas of Willyburg are only stores. Customers walk in, buy some shit, then walk out. The bodegas along Marcy are social. Groups of young men talked outside. Dogs travelled from store to store. Owners greeted customers. Women in bright dresses stopped in after church. Yes, the bodegas here are more worn than those to the north, but age doesn't seem to be the dominant factor. Instead, it's use.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Stockton St.
Notable Sights Nearby: Marcy Houses

Bodegas will rip you off. This is the home of the $5 dollar bag of chips, and if you act like you don't belong, let's make it $7, "my friend." But the one deal to be found at the bodega is the deli sandwich. These cheap, fresh bites are the one solace that awaits you after moving to the city for the unpaid internship and sublet debt. Usually, if you pay in cash, you won't be charged tax. Now we're talking the Marcy Special, my friend.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Willoughby Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: U-Like Chinese Food

Man's ability to loiter is amazing. No matter how cramped a public space, people will hang out there. From rural gas stations to suburban gas stations (and of course bodegas), every public establishment will have someone posted out front. Along Marcy, it's often someone and their dog.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Greene Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: Sandy Bay Senior Housing, Herbert Von King Park

The neon block letter bootleg 7-Eleven signage of so many bodega marquees feels as essential to the experience as the credit card minimum and loosies. Then, every now and then, you come across something old school. Brother's Grocery in Bed-Stuy holds on to its '70s-style facade. Spike Lee's Crooklyn, set during the summer of 1973, features a similar bodega off Arlington Place. These yellow, carnival midway-looking spots can be seen here and there in Brooklyn, but the experience is too rare given how cool they are.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Lexington Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: N/A (largely residential)

The R.I.P. murals of Brooklyn can be jarring when you first encounter them. But as time goes by, you grow accustomed to them, like a memorial plaque on a park bench. After awhile, you can forget that paint was applied to the wall because someone—usually a young person—was killed. This memorial is writ loud and clear for everyone stopping to buy milk or smokes.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Gates Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: Louis Armstrong Houses

One of the most frustrating things about New York City is the ATM situation. While credit card minimums were formerly illegal, they're no longer against the law. Nobody goes into a bodega trying to spend $10. (Though you always do; it's hard to resist the behind-the-counter sexual enhancers). The solution: sketchy ATMs sitting outside managed by companies with names like Techno-Bank-Co. that charge outrageous service fees. They do give out the smallest bills of any cash machine, though. Which can be nice. Feel free to pay as you like, but as as Randy Moss once said, when asked, "How do you pay these guys?"

"Straight cash, homie."

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Monroe St.
Notable Sights Nearby: Celeste Beauty Salon

The sun-faded containers of laundry detergent and cleaning supplies in the store windows of bodegas seem more like relics than actual merchandise available for purchase. You've never seen anyone buy a bottle Trend or Final Touch; hell, you've never even seen that in someone's apartment. These products are only bought in a pinch, if at all. And why put them out front? Can you imagine someone saying, "Yeah man, I saw your Trend out front. Give me three bottles and tonight's Powerball"?

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Putnam Ave.
Notable Sights Nearby: Boys High School, Concord Baptist Elementary

Across the street from Alexander Grocery Store is Boys High School, a massive shrine to education built in 1891. Famous artists like Norman Mailer, Isaac Asimov, and Aaron Copeland are just a few of the distinguished alumni to come out of this nationally registered landmark. A college preparatory program with rigorous standards for much of its history, it merged with Girls High School in 1975 and left this building, moving to Fulton Street. It's now Bedford-Stuyvesant Preparatory High School, a small school for students who have transferred out of their original high schools.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Halsey St.
Notable Sights Nearby: Rose F. Kennedy Family Center

Ordering beer through a hole in the glass—nothing new for Brooklyn bodega connoisseurs. But it's damn near impossible to discern a pattern among the stores that employ the precaution and the ones that don't. One spot will leave the door open all night, while two blocks down, you'll be asked to place your order through the glass. Then again, moving two blocks in Brooklyn is sometimes no different from moving between two different worlds.

Intersection: Marcy Ave. and Fulton St.
Notable Sights Nearby: Applebee's, Burger King

Signs and wonders, the tour concluded at the feet of an Applebee's. It's tough in most populated areas in this country to walk a two-and-half-mile stretch without hitting a McDonald's, Subway, or some other chain eatery. Thus, Applebee's (and Burger King).

The corner of Fulton and Marcy is a 20-minute walk from Atlantic Terminal and the Barclays Center. This means you're a 20-minute walk from Target, Victoria Secret, and Buffalo Wild Wings, a far cry from the pleasures of bodegas. Welcome back to America, Brooklyn.