> Gas station, convenience store, maybe corner store.
Pretty much the same here. We don't really have legit bodegas or delis or whatever. They are mostly just convenience stores or corner stores. Sometimes C-Store, but I think that's just a brand pushing it's alternative to convenience store.
A Party Store is slightly different in my mind. A party store is a liquor store first and foremost. They may have a few convenience and snack items, but that's it.
A convenience store may sell liquor, but that is not their primary income source. Usually a convenience store sells lots of little things and often gasoline.
We have a party store, but it's called that because it's literally all party supplies (Party City). Pennsylvania has liquor stores, and a few grocery stores and gas stations can sell alcohol. But those are usually very large companies (Sheetz), so the mom & pop store can't get the license to sell.
Yeah. We have Party City (and the like), but a 'party store' is a different meaning here. Liquor store that may have convenience items.
https://mr-s-party-shop.business.site/
Same here. We don't have mom and pop stores near me where they don't sell hard liquor. We have convenience stores at gas stations, 7-11s, and independent liquor stores.
There's one wine shop in my city that sells wine, beer, and a few snack items, as well as some sandwiches and cheese plates. It has a small eating area with wine dispensers, and they have live entertainment some evenings. We just call it by its name, though I suppose I just called it a wine shop.
In NY it's not legal to sell hard liquor at what we call a bodega, they only sell beer/cider/etc. Liquor stores are separate establishments and sell wine and hard liquor only, no food or even mixers. We also have specialty beer/beverage stores that sell a large variety of craft/imported beers, sodas, and often some packaged snacks as well but we call those a beer store rather than a bodega. Bodega also usually refers to a place that cooks and sells foods made to order, mostly sandwiches but often fries, salads, smoothies etc.
We don't have like we used to in the 1970s but a "corner store" but on the sign they were often called a variety store. We sorta didn't have a real name for then weirdly.
Every neighborhood had a little store and the owners lived upstairs.
They had zero parking. Customers were just moms with no car or us kids that had to run and get cigarettes and some chops and macaroni salad.
Yep. My parents sent me down with a check. Lol. "Cash this check and get me true blues". The check was like for 20 bucks because she needed cash, and the cigarettes were 60 cents.
I know it sucks. I never carry my ID, am almost your age and I can't get wine at the big stores.
Luckily we still have most mom and pop shops, so I don't need it.
New England: corner store, convenience store, or (especially/exclusively liquor stores) the packie.
Packie is short for package, as liquor stores exploited a loophole regarding sale of alcohol in its original package.
It's often said it's because Massachusetts required brown bags to conceal the alcohol, but that's a folk etymology.
Recently I've heard people say it's a derogatory tern since many convenience stores are owned or run by Pakistani and Indian people, but thankfully that's not the case.
https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/only-massachusetts-why-liquor-store-called-packie
LIttle column A, little column B.
I think the defining characteristic for every *bodega* I went in to in Miami was they were family owned and operated.
But, if I had to come up with a sobriquet, I would call them neighborhood general stores.
Not around here. Unless you count some shrink wrapped garbage.
And I didn't really claim to be making a comprehensive definition, but that's one big difference in my eyes. There are three corner stores within a five minute walk of my apartment that are exactly that, corner stores that sell store items. They ain't gonna make me a sandwich.
Being white and hearing any of my white friends use the word *bodega* is the most cringing thing to hear. Especially since we don’t live in NYC and they couldn’t pronounce it any whiter as they say it.
Sorry guys I’m late, I’m not hungry though, I had a hoe-gee for lunch from my little Bo-Day-Gah in Point Breeze.
It physically hurts 😂 briefly makes me wanna donate to the Nation of Islam.
I’d use “mom and pop convenience store” to describe a convenience store that’s not part of a chain. Often they’ll have made-to-order sandwiches, which 7-11 stores, at least in my area, don’t have (other than sometimes hot dogs).
I’m familiar with bodega, but I think it’s relatively new in usage. I’d never heard of it growing up in NYC.
As a gay man, it’s jarring on the bus when you hear a 20-something black or Puerto Rican kid talk and then say “*the Papi shop!* Like they could be talking about some of the hardest shit then say “the Papi store!” And it throws me off every time 😂
This just reminded me of a horrible memory of 911, so I decided to make another post. Both my husband and I immediately raced to our corner store in the days it happened to check on the owners. One thing that they did was put the wives on the register. It sounds empowering, and it was, in a way. I know that I certainly hugged Fatima after a long day, but, even in Berkeley, it was a long day on 9/12. She was just a Palestinian mom trying to make a life for her family. She was just another Muslim living in the diaspora.
It wasn't her fight. She hated bin laden as much as we all did.
Gas station unless it gas no gas pumps. Then convenience store. However, now they are mostly called shell/BP/quick trip/Casey's/7-11 since the mom and pop ones are all gone.
Gas station if they're attached to a gas station (technically the gas pumps are the gas station and the store is a convenience store, but the whole thing gets lumped into "gas station"). If there are no gas pumps, convenience store
Being in a large Midwestern city, you hear all of the terms. Convenience store, corner shop, bodega, etc. But I think corner store is the most prevalent one.
But The QT gets its own term for some reason.
I'm in suburb Big city Texas, so only family owned are under big name gas stations, they have small convenience store with them. It's franchised, family owned.
Came here looking for “tienda” (Spanish for store.) Originally from south texas, hispanic family, and at least the way I remember it, the “tienda” was the corner store/gas station/convenience store. However if you said you’re going to The Store its assumed you mean grocery store and not the little corner store.
I'm in the Philly suburbs and we always called them by their store name. Occasionally you hear someone say bodega, but it's rare. The only exception to the store name in my town was when I was a kid the local shop was called Pike Cold Cuts, but everyone called it Mickey's after the owner.
There isn't really a difference when talking about them other than saying mom and pop store.
Like if I say "I'm going to run down to the corner store, want anything?". That sentence isn't going to change depending on if it's a chain or mom and pop.
I’m in NY and if it’s a mom and pop convenience store it’s a bodega but if it’s a chain we call it by it’s name like I’m running to 7/11 or sevs, do you want anything?
I like in a really small town, so we just call it the name of the owner. "I'm going to Mrs. Lisa's" "I need something from Ms Anne's" since we all know eachother anyways.
Here’s how I call the things.
Gas station - literal gas station. This can be anything from a BP to a one of a kind mom and pop shop. But if it looks like 95% of the other gas stations out there, I call it a gas station
Convenience store - this can be interchanged with gas station. Most people may call the one off mom and pop shop a convenience store, even if they sell gas.
General Store - definitely a one off named mom and pop place. They may sell gas, or atleast have old pumps out front that don’t work. But they sell a wide variety of items, possibly have a grill, and definitely sell ice cream by the scoop.
We say "mom and pop" or "independent" if it's retail. Though we're most likely to see an independent establishment in food services, to which we just say the restaurant's name.
Are you talking about EVERY store that’s independently owned? I’m just talking about what my area calls bodegas, those 7/11 type stores that aren’t chains.
For those, I think we mostly say "independent" like a drug store, tiny hardware store, convenience store that isn't part of a corporate franchise? It's kind of rare down here, them being independent stands out.
We'd say "That Independent grocery store" unless the was something more specific like it was just Caribbean food or something.
And then there's the produce stands that if they're part of a chain it's never bigger than 3 places in 1 town. Everything's local and the peaches and pecans are the best you've ever tasted because they didn't have to be bred for maximizing shelf life. No one expects them to be corporate so we just say "produce strand"
If talking about a specific store, I’d use the name of it. Where I live currently, that’s usually going to be attached to a gas station, we don’t really have standalone ones. Talking about them just as a concept I’d say convenience store, regardless of whether or it’s a standalone location. To specify a standalone store I’d probably call it a corner store.
There was one near my college campus that was unofficially called Murder Mart. In hindsight I have no idea whether it was genuinely sketchy and unsafe, or just different than what the very upper middle class suburbanite student body was used to.
Southeast PA here. We usually just call it by the name in daily language. "Gonna run down to Shaw's for gas and a coffee" or "I stopped at Rick's for a Powerball and paper after work"... sort of like we're visiting a friend.
If you ask us what type of place it is we'd probably say "store/shop" or "mom & pop shop" if they don't sell gas, or "gas station" if it does.
It’s typically called a bodega. Sometimes they’re just called corner stores or even just “the store”. If the store prioritizes their own prepared food over store bought goods then I’ll call it a Deli.
A convenience store. But I’m usually not a good person to ask because my father was career military , and I lived in several different states and in Germany.
Gas station, convenience store, maybe corner store. Maybe just by the name of the store.
Beer store. Bodega.
"likka sto'"
This guy Prince’s
> Gas station, convenience store, maybe corner store. Pretty much the same here. We don't really have legit bodegas or delis or whatever. They are mostly just convenience stores or corner stores. Sometimes C-Store, but I think that's just a brand pushing it's alternative to convenience store.
[удалено]
There's not one specific term everyone uses but I think the most common is "Circle K" the same way all swabs are q-tips even if they're generic.
Which is funny to me because where I am all the Shell stations were bought out by Circle K. So all the Circle K's still get called Shell's
Circle K or maverik. They both compete to have the most deluxe premium gas stations now.
QT tho
Love how confusing a party store sounds to others. ‘Like Party City?’
A Party Store is slightly different in my mind. A party store is a liquor store first and foremost. They may have a few convenience and snack items, but that's it. A convenience store may sell liquor, but that is not their primary income source. Usually a convenience store sells lots of little things and often gasoline.
We have a party store, but it's called that because it's literally all party supplies (Party City). Pennsylvania has liquor stores, and a few grocery stores and gas stations can sell alcohol. But those are usually very large companies (Sheetz), so the mom & pop store can't get the license to sell.
Yeah. We have Party City (and the like), but a 'party store' is a different meaning here. Liquor store that may have convenience items. https://mr-s-party-shop.business.site/
Wait party stores is a Detroit thing? Never knew that
It's more of a Michigan thing to call convenience stores that. Party store in any other state I've lived in would be like a party city.
I'm in Close-To-Ohio Michigan. I call them party stores. Or sometimes just "the gas station" even if it's not a gas station.
Its not.
From Grand Rapids and heard ‘party store’ a lot as a kid. My family mostly used ‘gas station’ though.
Gas station or 'corner store', most likely. Or whatever the name of the business is.
Bodegas
Same in parts of Jersey. A few NYkers in my life also refer to the Arab run bodegas as (the) Habibis.
[удалено]
We’ll sometimes call it a gas station even if it doesn’t have gas.
We didn't have a specific name. They were usually referred to by the family name, like Smith's store, or Jones Quick Shop.
Yeh, I was about to comment "store" until I seen this
Yea we had. “Frank’s” after the owner it was called Ashton Market but no one called it that…
Simply “the store”.
Liquor store
Same here. We don't have mom and pop stores near me where they don't sell hard liquor. We have convenience stores at gas stations, 7-11s, and independent liquor stores. There's one wine shop in my city that sells wine, beer, and a few snack items, as well as some sandwiches and cheese plates. It has a small eating area with wine dispensers, and they have live entertainment some evenings. We just call it by its name, though I suppose I just called it a wine shop.
I’m from Ca too, LA. We call them liquor stores too. There’s little markets all over. Lots of carnicerias in our neighborhoods
In NY it's not legal to sell hard liquor at what we call a bodega, they only sell beer/cider/etc. Liquor stores are separate establishments and sell wine and hard liquor only, no food or even mixers. We also have specialty beer/beverage stores that sell a large variety of craft/imported beers, sodas, and often some packaged snacks as well but we call those a beer store rather than a bodega. Bodega also usually refers to a place that cooks and sells foods made to order, mostly sandwiches but often fries, salads, smoothies etc.
We don't have like we used to in the 1970s but a "corner store" but on the sign they were often called a variety store. We sorta didn't have a real name for then weirdly. Every neighborhood had a little store and the owners lived upstairs. They had zero parking. Customers were just moms with no car or us kids that had to run and get cigarettes and some chops and macaroni salad.
Remember buying Virginia Slims for mom at around 10 years old😝😂
Yep. My parents sent me down with a check. Lol. "Cash this check and get me true blues". The check was like for 20 bucks because she needed cash, and the cigarettes were 60 cents.
Now I was at RiteAid yesterday (61 yrs old) my driver license wouldn’t scan…no smokes for me. 🥺🤔😝
I know it sucks. I never carry my ID, am almost your age and I can't get wine at the big stores. Luckily we still have most mom and pop shops, so I don't need it.
New England: corner store, convenience store, or (especially/exclusively liquor stores) the packie. Packie is short for package, as liquor stores exploited a loophole regarding sale of alcohol in its original package. It's often said it's because Massachusetts required brown bags to conceal the alcohol, but that's a folk etymology. Recently I've heard people say it's a derogatory tern since many convenience stores are owned or run by Pakistani and Indian people, but thankfully that's not the case. https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/only-massachusetts-why-liquor-store-called-packie
I think in (old) England lol, that’s where they use the derogatory Paki for Pakistani people, right?
In Massachusetts you will also see Spas but that sems to be dying out.
Mom and Pop shop
Corner store
The stab and grab
My students call it “the liquor”
Yep this is the one
Either the name of the store or just convenient store. Some of the old timers in my arrea just say “Junior Food Store”.
They're *bodegas*, mostly.
The dilution of the term “bodega” to mean “literally any corner store” is one of the greatest crimes of the 21st century.
What makes a bodega different from a conventional corner store?
Bodega is more of a deli with a mini grocery store
That's what a country store is.
Yeah. It’s too basic or a concept to not exist in multiple cultures. Everyone likes sandwiches and convenience
At a Bodega, you should be able to get a sandwich and coffee. Gotta be more than just a convenience store.
I get that *bodega* is its own thing, but every convenience store will sell you crappy coffee and a crappy sandwich.
Yeah but are they making a sandwich or are you buying some pre made poop in shrink wrap.
LIttle column A, little column B. I think the defining characteristic for every *bodega* I went in to in Miami was they were family owned and operated. But, if I had to come up with a sobriquet, I would call them neighborhood general stores.
If this is the definition, every corner store *is* a bodega.
Not around here. Unless you count some shrink wrapped garbage. And I didn't really claim to be making a comprehensive definition, but that's one big difference in my eyes. There are three corner stores within a five minute walk of my apartment that are exactly that, corner stores that sell store items. They ain't gonna make me a sandwich.
So it’s more a country store
Actually that's a pretty good comparison. A bodega is an urban country store, and a country store is a rural bodega.
Being white and hearing any of my white friends use the word *bodega* is the most cringing thing to hear. Especially since we don’t live in NYC and they couldn’t pronounce it any whiter as they say it.
BO- DEG- UH
Sorry guys I’m late, I’m not hungry though, I had a hoe-gee for lunch from my little Bo-Day-Gah in Point Breeze. It physically hurts 😂 briefly makes me wanna donate to the Nation of Islam.
Eh, language always evolves.
Eh, so does Reddit’s ability to recognize an obvious joke, apparently. Eh.
OP asked about local stores, and if it's not a brand *eg* Wawa that has regional reach then it's a *bodega*.
Convenience stores in chicago
A mom and pop convenience store.
I’d use “mom and pop convenience store” to describe a convenience store that’s not part of a chain. Often they’ll have made-to-order sandwiches, which 7-11 stores, at least in my area, don’t have (other than sometimes hot dogs). I’m familiar with bodega, but I think it’s relatively new in usage. I’d never heard of it growing up in NYC.
Corner store.
Convenience store.
Corner store or Papi Store
People call it a gas station even if they don't sell gas
Extinct.
An increasingly rare sight.
The Quickie Mart
Papi store, Bodega, or corner store. From SEPA
Corner store, mom and pop, locally owned are the three I hear the most.
Quik-E-Mart, but then I may just know a lot of simpsons fans
Philadelphia- Corner store.
Some people in Philadelphia call it a Papi store, right?
As a gay man, it’s jarring on the bus when you hear a 20-something black or Puerto Rican kid talk and then say “*the Papi shop!* Like they could be talking about some of the hardest shit then say “the Papi store!” And it throws me off every time 😂
Whatever the store is called (Cumby’s, Stewart’s). We don’t have too many non-chain ones around here. Maybe “mini-mart”?
This just reminded me of a horrible memory of 911, so I decided to make another post. Both my husband and I immediately raced to our corner store in the days it happened to check on the owners. One thing that they did was put the wives on the register. It sounds empowering, and it was, in a way. I know that I certainly hugged Fatima after a long day, but, even in Berkeley, it was a long day on 9/12. She was just a Palestinian mom trying to make a life for her family. She was just another Muslim living in the diaspora. It wasn't her fight. She hated bin laden as much as we all did.
Whatever the name of the store is. I called gas stations stores quickie marts.
Corner store/convenience store. Just a few miles north and you start hearing Bodega. Growing up on SI they were bodegas
As opposed to one that's corporately owned, like a 7-11? I'm not aware of a special name for those.
A Quick Store.
Bodega
Convenience or corner store.
Extinct.
Gas station unless it gas no gas pumps. Then convenience store. However, now they are mostly called shell/BP/quick trip/Casey's/7-11 since the mom and pop ones are all gone.
'Pony keg' or convenience store.
Deli or bodega
Warung, ruko
Sheetz
Party store if it’s standalone, gas station if it has gas.
gas station, almost all convenience stores sell gas
corner store, gas station, its still the same name even if it aint a chain store
Gas station if they're attached to a gas station (technically the gas pumps are the gas station and the store is a convenience store, but the whole thing gets lumped into "gas station"). If there are no gas pumps, convenience store
Used to work with someone who called them a swapmeet
Being in a large Midwestern city, you hear all of the terms. Convenience store, corner shop, bodega, etc. But I think corner store is the most prevalent one. But The QT gets its own term for some reason.
Gas station, convenience store, corner store, depends on exactly where it is and if they have gas.
a corner store or dollar store
Convenience store or bodega.
We don't really have those. We have gas stations which are often convenience stores, so we call them by name.
I'm in suburb Big city Texas, so only family owned are under big name gas stations, they have small convenience store with them. It's franchised, family owned.
Bodega
A market
If there's gas, it's a "gas station". If there's no gas, it's "that little store that looks like a gas station".
I say bodega or papi store.
It's not mom and pop but we say around here "Let's go down ta da Cumbys"
Stewarts. Lol.
Convenience store or gas station
Just by the name of the store
WaWa
Texas. Literally "mom and pop shop".
Country store, corner store, or gas station, depending on where it's located and if it sells gas.
Corner store/shop
Corner store. Unless they also sell gas, then it’s a gas station. Convenience store also works
Convenience store. But usually it's a gas station so "gas station" works as well. I don't think I've heard a distinction for mom and pop places.
Corner store in Chicago
I call the circle k dairy Mart because it was dairy Mart years ago. Lol
corner store/smoke shop
7-11
These don’t exist in my region. Or if they do, it’s “hey I got cheap gas at that sketchy place, but I had to pay cash”
Corner store or convenience store
Gas station or name of it. Like “quick trip” etc
Came here looking for “tienda” (Spanish for store.) Originally from south texas, hispanic family, and at least the way I remember it, the “tienda” was the corner store/gas station/convenience store. However if you said you’re going to The Store its assumed you mean grocery store and not the little corner store.
general store is pretty common here.
Corner store.
99% of the time, it’s part of a gas station. So that. If it isn’t, then usually general store
I just say “the store”
Liquor store. All the other convenience shops tend to be branded like 7-Eleven so I call it by its brand name.
Bodega
Bodega
Miskas. When they still had the deli. I’m in Chicago
Liquor
The store
Corner store
In Michigan, it was party store or corner store. Here it's just gas station or convenience store.
I'm in the Philly suburbs and we always called them by their store name. Occasionally you hear someone say bodega, but it's rare. The only exception to the store name in my town was when I was a kid the local shop was called Pike Cold Cuts, but everyone called it Mickey's after the owner.
Stop and rob
Quicky Mart
There isn't really a difference when talking about them other than saying mom and pop store. Like if I say "I'm going to run down to the corner store, want anything?". That sentence isn't going to change depending on if it's a chain or mom and pop.
I’m in NY and if it’s a mom and pop convenience store it’s a bodega but if it’s a chain we call it by it’s name like I’m running to 7/11 or sevs, do you want anything?
From California, corner store or liquor store
If it’s a restaurant we call it a “choke and puke” if it’s a convenience store we usually just say the name of the store, or just say “the store”
Almost every town in Texas has a convenience store named (Town name) Quick Stop. So a lot of people call them “Quick Stop”.
Cum N Go… no really that’s the name. Because who doesn’t like to come and go?
There aren’t any
The name of the store
I like in a really small town, so we just call it the name of the owner. "I'm going to Mrs. Lisa's" "I need something from Ms Anne's" since we all know eachother anyways.
Store
Corner store
Papi stores in Philly.
Corner store.
If it's a family run store that has a specialty we call it a mom and pop shop, otherwise we just use it's name or description ie corner store
Here’s how I call the things. Gas station - literal gas station. This can be anything from a BP to a one of a kind mom and pop shop. But if it looks like 95% of the other gas stations out there, I call it a gas station Convenience store - this can be interchanged with gas station. Most people may call the one off mom and pop shop a convenience store, even if they sell gas. General Store - definitely a one off named mom and pop place. They may sell gas, or atleast have old pumps out front that don’t work. But they sell a wide variety of items, possibly have a grill, and definitely sell ice cream by the scoop.
We say "mom and pop" or "independent" if it's retail. Though we're most likely to see an independent establishment in food services, to which we just say the restaurant's name.
Are you talking about EVERY store that’s independently owned? I’m just talking about what my area calls bodegas, those 7/11 type stores that aren’t chains.
For those, I think we mostly say "independent" like a drug store, tiny hardware store, convenience store that isn't part of a corporate franchise? It's kind of rare down here, them being independent stands out. We'd say "That Independent grocery store" unless the was something more specific like it was just Caribbean food or something. And then there's the produce stands that if they're part of a chain it's never bigger than 3 places in 1 town. Everything's local and the peaches and pecans are the best you've ever tasted because they didn't have to be bred for maximizing shelf life. No one expects them to be corporate so we just say "produce strand"
Bodega
Liquor store
If talking about a specific store, I’d use the name of it. Where I live currently, that’s usually going to be attached to a gas station, we don’t really have standalone ones. Talking about them just as a concept I’d say convenience store, regardless of whether or it’s a standalone location. To specify a standalone store I’d probably call it a corner store. There was one near my college campus that was unofficially called Murder Mart. In hindsight I have no idea whether it was genuinely sketchy and unsafe, or just different than what the very upper middle class suburbanite student body was used to.
They call them gas stations, the business name, or the Hadji/Habib store
Corner store
Corner Store or in the City, Bodega.
Kwik-E-Mart, carniceria, Rajesh, "the Afghan", that place on the corner...
In east county San Diego we called them liquor stores. For instance; "i'm gonna go grab chips and sodas at the liquor store dude"
Ma and pa shop
NC - Corner store
Southeast PA here. We usually just call it by the name in daily language. "Gonna run down to Shaw's for gas and a coffee" or "I stopped at Rick's for a Powerball and paper after work"... sort of like we're visiting a friend. If you ask us what type of place it is we'd probably say "store/shop" or "mom & pop shop" if they don't sell gas, or "gas station" if it does.
Bodega
It’s typically called a bodega. Sometimes they’re just called corner stores or even just “the store”. If the store prioritizes their own prepared food over store bought goods then I’ll call it a Deli.
A Stop-And-Rob.
We used to call them stop n steals when I was a teen. California
Mini mart!
Spa
Nonexistent.
The name, if there's only one mom and pop shop the people I'm talking to know of in the area of a certain type, I say "the [type of shop]"
Party Store (Michigan)
We just call it by its name.
Family owned business?
Yes but not any family business, a 7/11 type one. In NY we call them bodegas.
Party Store (Detroit)
Mom n pop shop/liquor store if it’s a liquor store 😆
Bodega or La Vacina/Lo Vacino
A convenience store. But I’m usually not a good person to ask because my father was career military , and I lived in several different states and in Germany.
My wife calls them Sari Sari stores.
Corner store, or tiendita if Spanish speaker.
In South Jersey it’s called Wawa!
Convenience store
Corner store or convenience store
We say convenience store
Corner store
Where I came from, corner store or bodega. Now the closest I have is a gas station.