
What Do You Call the Corner Store? - bryanrasmussen
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-do-you-call-the-corner-store
======
jgibson
The article claims: "In the cities of New Zealand and Australia, the
convenience store is known as a milk bar"

As a native kiwi, I've never ever heard it called a "milk bar". Dairy is the
more common term. What say you aussies?

~~~
kibibu
Aussie here. Definitely always called them milk bars.

Most of them have closed though, given that more people have cars and are
willing to drive a bit further to save a dollar on their loaf of bread at the
supermarket.

~~~
cam_l
Yeah, still called them milko's in the 80s, even though milk was delivered to
your door. By the 90s both the milk runs and the milko's were gone.

The only ones i remember surviving were also takeaways. Which now that i think
about it, is probably also a colloquialism.

------
obarthelemy
I'm old and French and used to live in Paris, so I call it "the corner Arab"
which is a bit dated because such shops are no longer 100% owned+operated by
Northern Africans. Mine still is though. I asked them if they found the
moniker racist, they laughed "non, it's true".

~~~
sdegutis
In my experience, the only people who get offended at good-natured "political
incorrectness" are people who have a social or political agenda that political
correctness is part of.

~~~
gumby
...as well as those who are inured to it and can’t be bothered raising the
issue so just go along.

~~~
rconti
I think it's actually quite common for the first generation to go along with
the joke or casual racism or whatever, because an important part of fitting in
is to not rock the boat, so to speak.

You can't start making a fuss until your foothold in society is firm enough
that you can afford to do so.

And, of course, plenty of people also simply don't care or find it offensive.

------
mabbo
> In Toronto and its many smaller surrounding cities, the convenience store is
> known as a variety store.

 _glances at CN Tower_ We call it a what? I mean, I've probably heard that
term, but they're convenience stores.

------
danellis
I was slightly confused when I saw "packie", thinking it might be a
misspelling. In the North of England in the 80s, we used to call the corner
store "the Paki shop", due to the large number of them owned by members of the
Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi community. As a child, I followed my
parents' example in this regard, and it wasn't until some years later that I
found out how racist and loaded the term 'Paki' is. I was a little shocked
that my family had been so casual in their use of the term.

~~~
jddj
These shops are still very commonly called "Pakis" in Spain (at least, in the
cities where I have spent time), even by young people.

Edit to add: Reading further down, there are some Americans saying that they
called them packies because they "pack liquor". This isn't the case in Spain,
and I'd be skeptical that it's the case there either.

------
i_am_proteus
When I lived in the southeastern US, these places typically also had gas
pumps.

So we usually called them "gas stations," even if they didn't actually sell
fuel.

------
cal5k
My favourite has to be Quebec's "depanneur", or "dep" for short. It's one of
those Francophone words that is also pervasive in Montreal english... like
"terrace" for patio.

~~~
unixhero
Terrace us used in UK English as well.

~~~
cal5k
Fair enough! But anglos also pronounce it with a french accent in Montreal,
which I find particularly endearing.

------
rkachowski
In Berlin it's mostly "späti" \- short for "spätkauf" or "late purchases".
There's a big culture around them.

~~~
EdwardDiego
I loved the spätis when I visited. Being able to buy beer at 3am is definitely
convenient.

~~~
swiley
Man I wish we had that in Virginia.

------
Scoundreller
Reminds me of a time in Eastern Europe where my ESL cousin asks me: "What is
the place called where two walls meet?"

me: "The corner?"

Cousin: "Yes, the corner. We are going to the corner bar".

I'm like... close enough.

~~~
reificator
If someone said we're going to the corner bar I'd not feel like that was a
weird thing to say in the least.

Well, apart from the fact that I don't drink.

~~~
gumby
If you doing drink you can skip that stage and go straight to the fighting.

------
bryanrasmussen
in Denmark, to add to the list, it's called a Kiosk although originally the
focus is very much on tobacco and magazine sales
[https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiosk](https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiosk)

~~~
unixhero
Life hack: The Kiosks with a small smoking lounge and gambling section always
have a _very good_ beer selection!

------
zmapuser
Calling it a party store is common in the suburbs of Detroit. In the city
itself it is almost unanimously just called a liquor store. If it sells gas
then you just call it a gas station.

------
OJFord
'Corner shop' and 'offy' are mentioned for UK/London, I'd add 'convenience' as
a noun, and in semi-contrast to TFA's opener about being laughed out of the
room for calling it a 'convenience store/shop'.

Also 'local convenience'/'local shop' (more so outside of cities where it's
more truly a local shop, not just the nearest 'food & wine' convenience) - but
never just 'the local', that is 100% a pub.

~~~
cameronh90
I have never heard anyone in London call it a 'convenience'. Only American-
English speaking transplants sometimes call it a convenience store.

What part of London are you living in where people call it a convenience? I
mostly hear corner shop or offie.

------
pivo
> Boston in particular and New England as a whole has a wide array of words
> referring to the corner store. The most interesting is spa

And of course "spa" is pronounced "spar".

~~~
alehul
Bostonian born & raised, never heard spa. Feels like an obscure thing WGBH
wrote about, and looking at the article, appears it's mostly historical now.

We do call our liquor stores "packies," though, which comes from package
store. :)

~~~
technothrasher
Agreed, I've spent my whole life in the Boston area and never heard it called
a spa. But water fountains are "bubblas" and those things you put on your ice
cream are "jimmies".

But now that I think about it, I grew up in a town that, at least forty years
ago was rural. The local shop was simply referred to as, "Clyde's" after the
man who owned it.

------
jarboot
In taiwan, they would call the 7/11s that were everywhere a "Sei-ben", a
japan/chinese-zation of "seven"

------
primis
I've never heard a corner store called a Deli in NYC unless it sold cold cuts.
And Bodega is used more for the independently run stores. NYC has a lot of
Duane Reade's / CVS's and they're generally called by name instead of generic
corner stores.

------
Kipters
In Sicily that would be "putìa" (same Latin origin as bodega), but I've heard
them being called differently in other parts of Italy, specifically in Rome
"bangladino" is widely used (because most store owners are from Bangladesh)

------
ErikAugust
A "packie" is a package store, which is a liquor store. A corner store is only
a "packie" if it sold liquor.

Source: Native Bostonian

~~~
susiecambria
I called any liquor store "packie." A corner store was called by it's name.

Semi-rural/now suburban northeast Connecticut

------
phil248
Here in California, I usually call it a liquor store, even if it doesn't sell
liquor.

~~~
rconti
What's funny is (in the Bay Area) I never go to those little liquor stores,
when every gas station and costco and safeway ALSO sells liquor, with the same
hours, at better prices.

Certainly in many underserved neighborhoods, those liquor stores are more
convenient, but there are also plenty of places where these run-down looking
shops seem to thrive despite proximity to more affordable options with better
selection, which I find strange.

------
billyt555
"Curb Market" anyone?

------
hotsauceror
Having lived here and there in the US, I've called and heard them called thus:

* 7-11 (used as a generic)

* party store

* ice house

* bodega

* the corner store

* convenience store

~~~
chrisdhoover
Growing up in suburbs it was 7 by god Eleven, or 7 by god for short. These
were not on the corner though, they were a car ride away to an arterial road.
Sometimes we went to Highs because Highs did ‘t card.

When I moved to the city the store to buy beer, because seriously that’s all
we would buy there, was called the market or the corner store. I’m going to
the market to buy a suitcase, come with?

~~~
rconti
Can you expand on where "by god" came from? Usually people don't make the
names longer for no particular reason. Is it related to the "oh thank heaven
for 7-11" commercials?

------
moltar
In Quebec it’s called deppaneur, or “dep” as a short form.

