CityLab Daily: What Bodegas Say About NYC's Uneven Recovery
Also today: The environmental implications of returning to the office, and a mass live concert offers a glimpse of music in the post-pandemic era.
Photographer: Suma Hussien/Bloomberg
Bodega as benchmark: To get a sense of the uneven impact of the pandemic, and of the recovery, look no further than the tens of thousands of bodegas dotted across the New York City’s five boroughs. Those near low-income communities not only saw business plummet as residents lost their jobs and became infected by the coronavirus, but also faced rising crime. The ones in more affluent neighborhoods, on the other hand, benefitted from the work-from-home crowd who shopped locally and spent more time cooking.
Bloomberg’s Yueqi Yang checked in with four bodega owners to see how their businesses are coping with the economic fallout of the outbreak. They include one in Manhattan who is considering shutting down his store permanently amid the absence of tourists and office workers, and a couple who just opened their second Brooklyn location. Today on CityLab: NYC Bodegas Are a Window Into the Boroughs’ Uneven Recovery