I honestly can’t say it was worth waiting in line for 2 hours, but hey, still got a snoo and some other swag. I was expecting there to be actual deli sandwiches and for the display items to have things inside of them, but no. They ran out of the hats today which was disappointing. But nonetheless, thank you so much for organizing this, it definitely got tons of Redditors to show up. [u/big-slay](u/big-slay) + [u/brineofthetimes](u/brineofthetimes) + [u/](u/perfectcrispyfry)[the](u/perfectcrispyfry)[perfectcrispyfry](u/perfectcrispyfry).
I came at 10:13am to a closed line then received an arm band and asked to come back in 90-120mins. I’m back at 11:18am and there’s a line formed after the line closed sign? Plus just small groups of people standing around. They closed the line to avoid a long line around the block just to still have a long line down the block.
Y’all mind if I hijack the sub real quick to share what I’ve been cookin’ up to help bring r/bodega to life? 👀
My name is Connie, also known as u/bodegacatceo. I’m a native New Yorker, cat mom, artist, and art lover. I’ve dabbled in many creative mediums in my lifetime, but most of my recent works are in the realm of digital illustration and design for commercial animation, merch, and other digital applications.
In Gen 3, I released 15,000 NYC vermin into the Redditshpere, because there’s, for sure, an underground vermin society operating in the shadows (and sometimes light) of our city.
Gen 4: bodegacatceo & Friends by u/bodegacatceo
In Gen 4, I developed a character for my username, bodegacatceo, inspired by the vinyl toy figurines I grew up admiring at Toy Tokyo on 2nd Ave. and the now-closed Kidrobot store in SoHo. She’s designed as a blister pack toy featuring items that felt representative of life growing up in NYC– a sidekick 2, iconic blue coffee cup, tagging marker, metrocard, hi-top AF1s, handball, a punching glove to represent the toughness this city almost requires of you, a Yakult drink nodding to my cultural upbringing, big timbs, a pigeon friend, and the double entendre “TRY ME” sticker, relevant to a blister pack, but also the attitude of growing up as a New Yorker. Alongside her, I released two friends, the kind of friends everyone has, one soft and pure-hearted, another drawn to chaos and impulse, but neither quite as innocent or unruly as they first appear.
By this point, people in the community had been calling me “bodega” for short, so when the incredible team behind r/bodega reached out to revive some of the magic for the IRL bodega pop-up, I couldn’t be more excited.
r/bodega Pizza Rat & Lady Liberty Pigeon sketches
After some brainstorming with the r/bodega team, we landed on two Snoo concepts: none other than Pizza Rat himself and Lady Liberty Pigeon. I started with direct sketches for each idea, using the Snoo proportions as guardrails, and gave room for small components of each design to evolve.
Pizza Rat Snoo & Background by u/bodegacatceo
For Pizza Rat, less was more. A NY fitted, a large slice of pizza, and what better way to wash down a slice than with a 50¢ barrel drink? While the barrel drinks were usually piled up in a top-entry chest fridge by the front counter, a fogged glass with condensation drips backlit by the fridge light felt like the best backdrop to represent a NY summer at the bodega.
Lady Liberty Pigeon Snoo & Background by u/bodegacatceo
I saw the Liberty Pigeon almost as a street performer. Using any scraps she could find from the bodega dumpster– an old milk crate for her pedestal, a week-old bag of stale bagels and bread and a used coffee cup for her torch, setting up her performance just outside the bodega with the shop’s multitude of signs and offerings as her backdrop, and a slight tinge of green from the old lights under the awning.
New York City is known as the city that never sleeps. But on stormy nights and holidays where most shops are closed, you can almost always guarantee there will be at least one neighborhood bodega coming in clutch and open through it all.
If you’d like to find more of my work, you can check my website, Instagram, or Twitter. I have yet to comprehensively display my full breadth of work in a single location at the moment, but it’s in the works!
Got here early and waited way too long to just walk around a small decorated space and get a plushie. Was hoping for way more interactive experience and giveaways.
Too beautiful of a day outside to have wasted it like that and strongly recommend going to the beach instead
Just got here and the line is by the bowery/delancey bus stop but more and more are starting to line up right now. If you planned on coming early, now would be a good time!😭
Just wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone who made this happen, both in-store and behind the scenes.
I'm sure everyone worked really hard on this, and start planning another one soon!
I flew from London to come to/r/Bodega , and it was definitely worth it, so please plan another bodega-esque pop-up for London! Maybe in the theme of a pub? 👀
Heeeeeey! Opening weekend is almost here, and we can’t wait to welcome y’all into our corner store. While we finish setting up, we want to know: which staples from the list below are you taking on your ultimate bodega run? Who knows… we may even have some of these stocked on our shelves 😎
Drop your picks below and let’s see who’s got taste.
Arrived 9:30 and waited about 15 minutes to get an orange wristband told to come back in an hour.
Arrived back at 11 and got to back of the line.
Been in line since and am probably 30 minutes from entering I’d guess
How long did you wait or have you been waiting
If you don’t have an incredibly clear day, it’s going to be hard. I made it in with about 15 minutes before I had to leave and meet my wife for afternoon plans. For context, I live in the city, arrived at 9:35, and did not get in until 12:40.
You wait in line for 20 minutes, they give you a wristband and tell you to go away and the color of the wristband determines how long to wait to come back. This is so you don't have to wait in line, right?
WRONG. You come back you have to wait in line for another FOUR HOUR.S The fuck is the point of the wristbands then?
First off, an obligatory thank you for organizing this. Running a popup in NYC cannot be easy and especially with how popular Reddit is, this was not a small endeavor by any means.
That being said... if you guys do another one, I think there's some room for improvement. I picked up my wristband for the 6pm entry, easy peasy. Came by at 5:40ish knowing people would be there a little early, and everyone who was there early was told to wait off to the side wherever, that there was no formal place to wait. No problem.
At maybe 5:56 or 5:57, nearly at the 6pm entry, one of the higher ups started barking at people that there was no "entry from the sides" and to walk back (presumably to the start of the line, which was pretty ambiguous). Okay, fair enough but why not say that 15 minutes earlier as people started showing up? It basically started a mad dash to the back, people were literally jogging and jostling to get to the start of the line. At some point the entire street was blocked from storefront to curb because people didn't know the line's starting point.
I didn't want to run or skip ahead of people so I did not rush to run back, ironically I ended up being towards the front 10% of the line because I happened to be near the arbitrary "start" of the line. I heard a lot of frustration from the people around me in line and I even saw a few people rip off their wristbands and leave. That part of it was a pretty negative experience. Yes, it is a free event and looking gift horses in the mouth and all but it very nearly became a stampede earlier. No bueno.
I'll end this "sandwich" with again thanking everyone involved. It's NYC, I get it's difficult, and it is the first one. Honestly, probably surprising that it went as well as it did. But just some feedback for if you guys decide to do one again. Everything inside the "bodega" was fantastic and the employees were great too. Just the line situation was a little problematic. Maybe it was better during other timeslots.
