How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance

When reading about things like this I'm always wondering if I'm the odd one out or others' perceptions are really off.

Background: I live in Munich, Germany which grew from ~1.3m to 1.5m people in my lifetime. I've never lived in the city center, and never outside. Just in "normal" neighborhoods, as I'd call them. And the same discussion about "brick and mortar book stores" and their downfall and people lamenting their demise and now this same thing. I've only ever had one of those "corner stores" near where I lived and it was basically a small supermarket. You went there in emergencies (shops here are only open from 7:00 to 20:00 at most, mind you) because there wasn't much stuff. I guess a few people went there exclusively but the selection was really limited.

TLDR: How can I live in a big city and still have never have experienced any upside to this? I'm not saying corner stores are bad at all, but I really don't get the fuss.

In America (especially the East coast), the mom & pop bodegas serve as impromptu social gathering places for the locals, as the store and its owners are very much a part of the community. Taking that away feels a lot like ripping apart a family.

I'm guessing it's a largely New York City/California (or perhaps even just LA) phenomena. I'm also guessing people from midsized cities in the central parts of the US are as confused as you are.

If my nearest corner store closed down tomorrow it would probably take me 6 month to notice.

Germany is different. Corner shops elsewhere can be open longer hours.

Sounds like general stores in small towns closing down because a Walmart has opened next door.

My experience (in Portugal) is that they provide a sort of safety net and offer small but precious favors, thanks to being owned by a Person (and not a faceless corporation) who you can get to know and establish a trust relationship.

Our corner stores provide items on credit for local residents when money stretches thin before the paycheck arrives, they deliver for free to the poor old lady who can't leave her home, or they hold your home keys if you needed to give them to someone when you were away. In exchange, we buy some stuff from them, even if it's a bit more expensive.

Plus, some have relationships with local farmers and other small scale producers, and so can get some genuinely better products than supermarkets. I always bought national fruits and bread from them.

Honestly, it just sounds like these 'coastal elites' seems to care a lot more about their personal image and making themselves feel good rather than actually caring about bodegas and their families, or whatever. Reminds me in a bit like poverty porn.

Lets be honest here - they're just vending machines. Sure, Bodega is a very bad choice of name, but it was the FastCompany article that said they want to kill mom and pop stores and rob their familities, not the founders.

Of course, I'm not from America (australia) so I'm definitely out of touch with the cultural part of the situation, but that's just what it looks like from here

It depends on the "Bundesland"/state. Yes, there are exceptions but these are usually only disguises call shops who have some alcohol, cigarettes, newspapers, and maybe toast and some basic food.

Thanks for the explanation, and I think that matches my mental model when people talk about those. But I've not even experienced that in small towns or villages where relatives or friends live.

To be fair, a lot of people are seriously angry at Walmart about that as well.

Well, I think nobody will force anyone to use those vending machines instead of going to their corner store.

If people do it, maybe it's because they don't feel this family thing ? So does it matter after all ?

Not supporting the vending machines here, just interrogating you :-)