Prologue: What’s a Bodega?

Convenience stores and corner stores are staples of American life, but New York City’s bodegas take them to another level. These modern day general stores are woven into the fabric of city life, temples of necessity as integral as the subway system and bagels. So with the help of average New Yorkers and not-so-average New Yorkers Dallas Penn and The Kid Mero, we explain what a bodega is and why we decided to spend a whole day in the Red Apple Deli in Harlem. Photo by Marlon Bishop