
Two Ex-Googlers Want to Make Bodegas and Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete - moonka
https://www.fastcompany.com/40466047/two-ex-googlers-want-to-make-bodegas-and-mom-and-pop-corner-stores-obsolete
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pconner
It's honestly impressive how tech people continue to exhibit a complete lack
of social awareness. This is a product no one asked for (NYers actually enjoy
bodegas as they are), and the PR seems to be blatantly pro-gentrification
(i.e. getting rid of one of the few viable business opportunities for lower-
class immigrants is spun as a good thing).

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gumby
If that's true, they'll fail. What I worry about in regards to businesses like
this is cream-skimming.

For example: these bodega guys sell the most popular items at higher margin;
those items drove additional foot traffic into the bodega who then bought the
next tier of items. Or someone needed the next tier and picked up the more
impulse items while there. Once the cream has been skimmed, the economic model
of the bodega is no longer available, so the shops vanish, which
inconveniences everyone.

This is the Uber model too: pick off the wealthier passengers, leave the dregs
to taxis who are required by law to pick everyone up.

This model has destroyed dry cleaners in SF; as a bonus the dry cleaning
startup failed as well, but by that time the damage was done.

It's capitalism, sure, and in case you're wondering I'm not advocating for
regulation to prevent innovation. But personally I try to avoid these cream-
skimming businesses even though I am in the "cream" demographic.

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johnday
> It's capitalism, sure, and in case you're wondering I'm not advocating for
> regulation to prevent innovation.

Capitalism doesn't require regulation to prevent innovation. It requires
regulation to prevent _exactly this_ from happening: Large anomalous but
short-lived ventures killing small-scale existing markets.

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inostia
This is such a stupid idea. These "pantry boxes" aren't going to replace
bodegas. Who's going to restock them? And how soon? They literally just do not
have the physical capacity to scale. Also: no beer, no tobacco products, no
coffee, no ice cream, no hot food - basically the things that people go to
bodegas for (but they have Lacroix!)... Not to mention some of the clerks are
pretty friendly, at least in my area.

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nihonde
These people should study Japanese convenience stores. I doubt anyone can
improve much on the fundamentals of that business model. I visit the local
conbini every night, and it serves as my bank, post office, and of course
source of snacks.

I saw a tv show about how the managers of each conbini uses a sophisticated
app that aggregates inputs like weather and sales trends to anticipate demand
for each product and help order and deal with logistics. Every cash register
has a set of age bracket buttons, so that can track age demographic even for
cash sales.

The original breakthrough of 7-11 when it first franchised in Japan was to use
the stores as a distributed warehouse where almost all inventory is for sale
almost all the time. Since then, they’ve been chipping away at refinements and
there’s plenty of competition, not to mention jobs for immigrants, etc.

I read somewhere that the average person in Japan spends around US$6.00 per
day at a conbini. Even with all the costs, that’s a pretty healthy revenue
stream.

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scilro
It seems like it would be far less controversial if they took the cute machine
learning tech and ran a b2b company that helped existing mom-and-pop stores
service their communities.

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notyourday
Yes but how would we get to witness an epic flop when two overpaid children of
privilege who only heard about bodega cats from @bodegacatsofinstagram get
smacked in a face by realities of bodegas?

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wityak
This is essentially a vending machine, but more importantly, and the reason it
cannot replicate the NYC bodega experience... no cat.

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eric_h
No cat, no bags of ice, no limes, no beer and no deli sandwiches - calling
this vending machine "Bodega" when it doesn't have the staples of a bodega is
offensive to my new york sensibilities.

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HeyLaughingBoy
And the owners don't robbed at gunpoint every few months.

Sorry, a high school friend's family owned a bodega in Bushwick before it was
"gentrified." That's the main thing I remember about their business.

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joezydeco
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it...or pivot.

[http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/11/13/bus_391181.s...](http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2003/11/13/bus_391181.shtml#.WbnDjsiGPDd)

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jpao79
Kind of reminds me of this Vox video about vending machines in Japan:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UJzVLXmBG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UJzVLXmBG4)

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nyxtom
So, basically a hotel mini-bar?

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joezydeco
Worse, a hotel mini-bar placed in the middle of the street.

Mini-bars are at least attached to your name and credit card for the duration
of your stay.

