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How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance

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39 points pmcpinto | 2 comments | 20 Sep 17 08:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.434s | source
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wink ◴[20 Sep 17 10:53 UTC] No.15292328[source]▶
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.

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1. icebraining ◴[20 Sep 17 11:10 UTC] No.15292430[source]▶
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.

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2. wink ◴[20 Sep 17 11:26 UTC] No.15292529[source]▶
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.