Turning this company into a focal point about SV culture is such a ridiculous exercise in voluntary dyspepsia.
How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
11–20 of 84 posts
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#12When reading about things like this I'm always wondering if I'm the odd one out or others' perceptions are really off. Background: I live in Munich, Germany which grew from ~1.3m to 1.5m people in my lifetime. I've never lived in the city center, and never outside. Just in "normal" neighborhoods, as I'd call them. And the same discussion about "brick and mortar book stores" and their downfall and people lamenting the…
In America (especially the East coast), the mom & pop bodegas serve as impromptu social gathering places for the locals, as the store and its owners are very much a part of the community. Taking that away feels a lot like ripping apart a family.
Sounds like general stores in small towns closing down because a Walmart has opened next door.
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#13How is this "situation" with Bodega any different than the destruction of small town shops (and small towns in general) over the last 50 years?
This article could easily be retitled: "How This Article Typifies Urban Cultural Ignorance of the World Beyond the City Walls."
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#14Let's check in with what the actual founders of this company said:
Are we trying to put corner stores out of business?
Definitely not. Challenging the urban corner store is not
and has never been our goal.
Corner stores have been fixtures of their neighborhoods for
generations. They stock thousands of items, far more than we
could ever fit on a few shelves. Their owners know what
products to carry and in many cases who buys what. And
they’re run by people who in addition to selling everything
from toilet paper to milk also offer an integral human
connection to their patrons that our automated storefronts
never will.
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#15This is basically a fancy vending machine, so I'm not really clear on why this got funded, but on the other hand vending machines are a thing. They don't actually seem to be trying to displacement bodegas from the get go, but rather putting their machines in upscale places like lobbies and gyms, but I'm still a bit confused by this whole thing, is the premise that these places are more likely to accept a pretty vending machine?
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#16When reading about things like this I'm always wondering if I'm the odd one out or others' perceptions are really off. Background: I live in Munich, Germany which grew from ~1.3m to 1.5m people in my lifetime. I've never lived in the city center, and never outside. Just in "normal" neighborhoods, as I'd call them. And the same discussion about "brick and mortar book stores" and their downfall and people lamenting the…
My experience (in Portugal) is that they provide a sort of safety net and offer small but precious favors, thanks to being owned by a Person (and not a faceless corporation) who you can get to know and establish a trust relationship.
Our corner stores provide items on credit for local residents when money stretches thin before the paycheck arrives, they deliver for free to the poor old lady who can't leave her home, or they hold your home keys if you needed to give them to someone when you were away. In exchange, we buy some stuff from them, even if it's a bit more expensive.
Plus, some have relationships with local farmers and other small scale producers, and so can get some genuinely better products than supermarkets. I always bought national fruits and bread from them.
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#17> Can you imagine handing your bank details to these clowns? On the whole this is an informative and well written explanation of the reaction to Bodega, but I don't think commentary like this is helpful.
Could you imagine the point-of-view of someone who did find this helpful? And then, the opinion of this hypothetical reader would hold of the Bodega clowns?
To me, the commentary helps call out how insincere and non-genuine the quoted text is.
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#18When reading about things like this I'm always wondering if I'm the odd one out or others' perceptions are really off. Background: I live in Munich, Germany which grew from ~1.3m to 1.5m people in my lifetime. I've never lived in the city center, and never outside. Just in "normal" neighborhoods, as I'd call them. And the same discussion about "brick and mortar book stores" and their downfall and people lamenting the…
In America (especially the East coast), the mom & pop bodegas serve as impromptu social gathering places for the locals, as the store and its owners are very much a part of the community. Taking that away feels a lot like ripping apart a family.
Honestly, it just sounds like these 'coastal elites' seems to care a lot more about their personal image and making themselves feel good rather than actually caring about bodegas and their families, or whatever. Reminds me in a bit like poverty porn.
Lets be honest here - they're just vending machines. Sure, Bodega is a very bad choice of name, but it was the FastCompany article that said they want to kill mom and pop stores and rob their familities, not the founders.
Of course, I'm not from America (australia) so I'm definitely out of touch with the cultural part of the situation, but that's just what it looks like from here
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#19I don't want to always sound critic of the USA, but if here in Italy you opened an activity with real or supposed insert your favourite heritage here style, no one would ever care.
You would get awful reviews if you weren't doing a good job of it, but aside from that, why would anyone really be offended?
If you guys were coherent, places like Olive Garden should never exist. And I am not even starting on how much of a shit job Olive Garden is doing of trying to look Italian, because I don't care.
Europe, with such a rich mix of cultures should be a trigger-hell for you Americans.
(I am being sarcastic) How can you really cope with all this?
Edit: to add insult to injury, how should we Italians feel about being always portrayed as "pizza, mafia, gobbledygook mamma mia". It's so far from our reality, we don't care.
Edit2: better phrasing
Re: How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
#20> Can you imagine handing your bank details to these clowns? On the whole this is an informative and well written explanation of the reaction to Bodega, but I don't think commentary like this is helpful.
That’s the exact line where I stopped reading. Although I rolled my eyes a little at the idea of the Bodega name being cultural appropriation too.