美国国家公共电台 NPR High-Tech 'Bodega' Falls Short Of The Real Thing

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A couple of high-tech¹ entrepreneurs thought they'd put a personable name on an impersonal² product. Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan, formerly³ of Google, unveiled a box this week with glass doors stocked with nonperishable items that people can unlock with their cell phones while a camera records what they take and charges them. It's essentially⁴ a tech-connected vending⁵ machine. But the entrepreneurs chose a name for their venture that many people found offensive - bodega. The name's taken from small neighborhood shops, usually in New York, stocked with products people run out of or suddenly crave⁶ - candy, gum, soda⁷ and, yes, cigarettes, newspapers, lottery⁸ tickets, condoms, tampons and soap.

Many bodegas are in Hispanic neighborhoods run by Hispanic and Asian shopkeepers. They become a stop for people out to walk their dogs or take a stroll from their apartments who decide to linger for a few minutes to buy a magazine or candy bar and talk to other people about how bad the Mets are, how nice the weather is, and kvetch about politicians, landlords and the Number 7 train from Flushing.

Bodegas are often the place sixth graders stop after school to buy a Coke or a candy bar. The bodega owners know their name and tells them, run home and do your homework. The bodega owner will often let a good customer just take something they need if they have no money until they get their paycheck. There is no app for that.

Real bodegas are small affordable⁹ businesses you don't need a stock offering to open. But if the high-tech-minibar faux bodega takes off, it could be at the expense of bodegas owned by real people who keep a cat on the counter and become vital characters in a neighborhood. To me, it's like sacrilegious. You want to take this name and use it to make money off it, Frank Garcia, who chairs the State Coalition¹⁰ of Hispanic Chambers¹¹ of Commerce, told The New York Post.

The instant reaction on social media was so sharp that Paul McDonald and Ashwath Rajan had to quickly write on Medium, we did some homework - speaking to New Yorkers, branding people, and even running some survey work asking about the name and any potential offense¹² it might cause. But it's clear that we may not have been asking the right questions of the right people. Despite our best intentions and our admiration¹³ for traditional bodegas, we clearly hit a nerve, said the entrepreneurs. We intended only admiration. But their statement leaves a question unanswered - will the name stay?

(SOUNDBITE OF PRETTY LIGHTS' "YELLOW BIRD")