Crime Wave Hits Bodegas, Threatening a Lifeline in the Pandemic
Bodegas have seen a 63 percent rise in shootings and a threefold increase in burglaries. Six people have been killed in or just outside the stores.
In the spring, as New York went into lockdown and essential items flew off supermarket shelves, the bodegas — part pantries, part community centers — became a lifeline for New Yorkers searching for hard-to-find staples.
They also became havens during the shutdown, scrappy 24-hour stores where people could find a loaf of bread, some hand sanitizer, a cup of coffee, a lotto ticket or, in some cases, just a sense of community.
But as the pandemic has worn on and increasing numbers of people have lost their jobs or fallen on hard times, the bodegas that a few months ago were seen as islands of normal life have become prime targets in a growing crime wave,