A small neighborhood grocery store, or a warehouse for storing wine or goods in Spain and Latin America.
From Spanish 'bodega,' from Latin 'apotheca' (storehouse), which also gave us 'apothecary.' Originally meant a warehouse or tavern in Spain, brought to America by Spanish speakers and now standard in American English for corner stores.
The bodega is a uniquely American urban institution now—born from Spanish vocabulary but evolved into something distinctly New York and other cities. These small stores became the backbone of neighborhood life, and there's even been recent cultural debate about their role in gentrifying communities.
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