Legacy of all-felt bodega remains though closed earlier
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E-mail Xinhua, June 27, 2017
Lucy Sparrow opened her corner store "8 'Till Late" on June 5 in the Meatpacking District, New York City, but she had to close it 16 days later.
The British artist had to cut short the life of the 1,200-square-foot bodega because of overwhelming demand, not rising rent in the high-end fashion spot.
Over 9,000 items in Sparrow's store, from snacks and fruit to toilet paper and cigarettes, among others, with price tags up to 77 U.S. dollars, were sold out in a little over two weeks, to the envy of other corner store owners.
Why did Sparrow's stock go so fast? The secret lies in her commodities themselves, which were all handmade from felt by the 30-year-old artist.
Hailing from Bath, England, Sparrow has set up in London three similar stores known as bodegas in Spanish.
"The inspiration for making a bodega was to recreate a slight of New York life," said Sparrow. "Bodega is such an integral part of New York life to New Yorkers, because (it is) their lifeline and it is where to get all the stuff they need 24 hours a day," she added.
Having existed in New York for more than seven decades, bodegas are shrinking faced with rising rent and competition from big retail chain stores.
Sparrow hopes her undertaking could in part help people remember how bodegas in every corner of the city bring neighborhood residents together.
"Bodega is where you see your neighbors, where you go every day to get the essentials you need in life. It's a community-led thing," she said.
Before coming to New York, Sparrow had done a six-month research on items sold in regular American corner stores and spent nine months making them out of felt.
"I tried to get the atmosphere same, the shelving, the floor. I've really tried hard to recreate it as exactly as it should be," she said, "I did a lot of drawings, I took a lot of photos...the research was extensive."
Even the name of the store, "8 'Till Late," has an American taste. "It's supposed to be a little bit taken from 7-11, but obviously we can't use that. So we use '8'till late' and it's actually open 8 till 8," Sparrow said.
Though the store has closed up, the fun and legacy Sparrow brought to the Big Apple remain.
"When my friend told me we were going to a convenience store, I thought she actually meant a convenience store," recalled Carloy Fiest, who has been to the store twice. "When I came in, I was surprised that everything was made of felt."
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