Bodegas, urban convenience stores that sell items such as candy and cold medicine, are East Harlem's economic heartbeat. Despite recent news that the recession is over, bodega owners and customers say its pulse has slowed to a murmur. Sales are down as much as 50 percent at some bodegas as customers spend less, operational costs climb and new competitors vie for business in El Barrio.
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Minaya, perched behind a floor-to-ceiling plexiglass counter filled with lottery tickets and toiletries, said customers are spending less, illustrating his point by holding up a single can of beer set down on the counter by a customer. Each customer spent about $6 per visit two years ago; now they spend $3 to $4, he estimated.
In East Harlem, bodegas like Minaya's dot almost every corner. The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene found that bodegas are the most common food stores in East and Central Harlem, according to a 2007 report. Bodegas also play a key economic role, as described by Russell Leigh Sharman in his 2006 book, The Tenants of East Harlem:
"But the true mainstay of the East Harlem economy, the barrio equivalent of the general store, is the corner bodega. Entry-level operations in the formal economy, bodegas in East Harlem, as elsewhere in New York, are the last vestige of the mom-and-pop store in the homogenized city."
The Bodega Association of the United States, headquartered in Manhattan, has 10,000 members in New York City, according to President Ramon Murphy. He estimated there are about 400 in East Harlem.
Less to spend
Murphy, who owns Red Apple Deli-Market, a bodega, said he's noticed a significant drop in spending over the last couple of years.
"Listen, East Harlem is struggling," Murphy said. "These people have 50 percent of the budget they used to have. They're coming, but spending a lot less."
East Harlem residents agree that times are tough, despite news from the National Bureau of Economic Research that found the recession, which started in late 2007, actually ended in June of 2009. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2008, the most recent year for which statistics were available, 26.6 percent of all families in Manhattan community board 11, which includes East Harlem, had incomes that registered below the poverty level, a 3.5 percent increase from 2007.
John Ruiz, a regular customer at Smashiess Deli & and Grocery on 104th Street, is spending less than he did two years ago. "If you were eating out four days a week, you're eating out once now," said Ruiz.
"It's worse here," said Phil Perry, a regular patron at Futuro deli grocery on 122nd Street and Second Avenue. He had just bought a package of pork skins for 99 cents; six months ago he said it cost 50 cents.
Bets and benefits
Some bodega employees are noticing further indicators of tough economic times; an increase in customers buying lottery tickets.
Lottery tickets are the most popular item at Quick Buy Deli/Grocery, a bodega on 107th Street whose counter is filled with brightly colored scratch-off tickets and calling cards. Manager Shilpi Shilpi estimated that she had sold only $120 in merchandise on a recent afternoon; $20 worth of food and beverages and $100 in lottery tickets.
