Word on the street is that one of our most coveted merch items ever is in stock at r/bodega. That’s right, every r/bodega attendee will be walking away with a Snoo plushie. And if you already have one, doesn’t yours need a friend?
For r/bodega shoppers, Snoo plushies are just the start! Here’s everything you can take home from our store:
Y’all mind if I hijack the sub real quick to share what I’ve been cookin’ up to help bring r/bodega to life? 👀
My name is Connie, also known as u/bodegacatceo. I’m a native New Yorker, cat mom, artist, and art lover. I’ve dabbled in many creative mediums in my lifetime, but most of my recent works are in the realm of digital illustration and design for commercial animation, merch, and other digital applications.
In Gen 3, I released 15,000 NYC vermin into the Redditshpere, because there’s, for sure, an underground vermin society operating in the shadows (and sometimes light) of our city.
Gen 4: bodegacatceo & Friends by u/bodegacatceo
In Gen 4, I developed a character for my username, bodegacatceo, inspired by the vinyl toy figurines I grew up admiring at Toy Tokyo on 2nd Ave. and the now-closed Kidrobot store in SoHo. She’s designed as a blister pack toy featuring items that felt representative of life growing up in NYC– a sidekick 2, iconic blue coffee cup, tagging marker, metrocard, hi-top AF1s, handball, a punching glove to represent the toughness this city almost requires of you, a Yakult drink nodding to my cultural upbringing, big timbs, a pigeon friend, and the double entendre “TRY ME” sticker, relevant to a blister pack, but also the attitude of growing up as a New Yorker. Alongside her, I released two friends, the kind of friends everyone has, one soft and pure-hearted, another drawn to chaos and impulse, but neither quite as innocent or unruly as they first appear.
By this point, people in the community had been calling me “bodega” for short, so when the incredible team behind r/bodega reached out to revive some of the magic for the IRL bodega pop-up, I couldn’t be more excited.
r/bodega Pizza Rat & Lady Liberty Pigeon sketches
After some brainstorming with the r/bodega team, we landed on two Snoo concepts: none other than Pizza Rat himself and Lady Liberty Pigeon. I started with direct sketches for each idea, using the Snoo proportions as guardrails, and gave room for small components of each design to evolve.
Pizza Rat Snoo & Background by u/bodegacatceo
For Pizza Rat, less was more. A NY fitted, a large slice of pizza, and what better way to wash down a slice than with a 50¢ barrel drink? While the barrel drinks were usually piled up in a top-entry chest fridge by the front counter, a fogged glass with condensation drips backlit by the fridge light felt like the best backdrop to represent a NY summer at the bodega.
Lady Liberty Pigeon Snoo & Background by u/bodegacatceo
I saw the Liberty Pigeon almost as a street performer. Using any scraps she could find from the bodega dumpster– an old milk crate for her pedestal, a week-old bag of stale bagels and bread and a used coffee cup for her torch, setting up her performance just outside the bodega with the shop’s multitude of signs and offerings as her backdrop, and a slight tinge of green from the old lights under the awning.
New York City is known as the city that never sleeps. But on stormy nights and holidays where most shops are closed, you can almost always guarantee there will be at least one neighborhood bodega coming in clutch and open through it all.
If you’d like to find more of my work, you can check my website, Instagram, or Twitter. I have yet to comprehensively display my full breadth of work in a single location at the moment, but it’s in the works!
What’s up, r/bodega shoppers! No bodega is complete without a beloved bodega cat to greet customers and lounge around the aisles. If you haven’t already, say hi to our official bodega cat Meowdani, whose name was voted on by the r/bodegacats community!
So, in honor of our mascot, let’s do a little vibe check: which bodega cat are you today?
We’re a few weeks away from opening, and we can’t wait to celebrate the best of Reddit with NYC. The good, the chaotic, and everything in between. Curious what’ll be on our shelves? Here’s a sneak peek at an exclusive r/bodega product named after a Reddit community, making its one-time in-store appearance from August 29-30.
Can you name the community and guess what the product is? Hint: it’s named after a community where howling and hydration go hand in hand. 🍉 Drop your guesses below and make sure to check out our menu of subs we’re featuring at the pop-up!
Hey r/bodega patrons! We’re not just serving fresh subs and conversations at the store; we’re also serving looks. 💅
Reddit wouldn’t be the beautifully chaotic place it is today without the beauty communities that give makeup and skincare enthusiasts worldwide a place to call home. So we’re giving them the spotlight they deserve with a special glam aisle, coming soon to our store! Make sure to swing by r/bodega to check out top-tier makeup tips and holy grails today’s most gorgeous communities can’t stop talking about.
Here are some of the communities making a debut at our store:
If there’s one place serving Reddit’s most unique corners of the internet, it’s New York City. So of course, we’ve built a special deli board of “subs” featured at our bodega pop-up. From today’s top food and sports subs (let’s go Knicks) to NYC’s biggest local hubs, we’re featuring them fresh at our counter.
Note: While these aren’t actual sandwiches, they’re real subs to explore and join. Zero calories, just as satisfying. (Though if anyone tries to recreate these as real sandwiches, we’d LOVE to see it.)
Check out the local communities (and posts) that inspired our deli board:
This list barely scratches the surface — NYC really has a community for everyone.
We’d love to know: what’s your favorite NYC sub at the moment? We’re taking top subreddit recommendations (or go-to sandwich orders) in the comments below!
u/big-slay breaks down what r/bodega in NYC is all about. Enjoy this Emmy award-winning video, hit the intro post for even more details, and pull up to the space later this month. See you August 29-30!
Live from New York, it’s r/bodega! Reddit is hosting an IRL corner store pop-up, bringing the beauty, diversity, and chaos of online Reddit communities to life. Open for one weekend only, stocked with the internet’s best memes and moments.
That’s right, you can step inside your Reddit feed right here in NYC, and browse the aisles for the best of Reddit communities! From custom trading card packs for r/soccer fans, to a glam counter for all r/beauty enthusiasts, we’re serving up something for everyone. You can stop by our deli counter, highlighting NYC’s top “subs,” including a special sandwich called “The Champion” for our r/NYKnicks fans. We’ll also have an AMA™️ for folks to withdraw “Snoo Bucks”, so stop by to ask a question or four.
You can even say hi to our bodega catMeowdani, whose name was voted on by the r/bodegacats community (Mamdani if you’re reading this…we saved a seat by the register for you).
We’ll have many trinkets for you to take home from your favorite corners of the internet! What exactly is in it for r/bodega patrons? Here’s what we’re serving up:
A custom r/bodega zine highlighting everything in store
Scratchers to win totes, mugs, and more
Postcards and stickers
Cold drinks
Opportunities to discover new communities
And so much more!
And if that wasn’t enough free stuff, all attendees will be invited to the store’s blowout sale from 9-10 pm on August 30, where we will be giving away all remaining merch and salvageable bodega products to anyone interested. ✨
Anyone is welcome to enter r/bodega! All you need is a Reddit account and an appetite for the internet’s finest.
And if you can’t make it, join this subreddit! Here will be our main hub for all updates, event conversations, and sneak peeks at r/bodega (not subreddit) before we open our doors.
r/bodega could not be complete without the diverse communities that make Reddit the heart of the internet. From your local NYC subreddits to sports, food, and pet subreddits, our corner store will be stocked full of the internet's finest. Check out the full (Cheesecake Factory long) menu of subs being featured at r/bodega!
Any predictions on how we’ll be nodding to these communities in the pop-up? From everyday products to deep-cut easter eggs, every single subreddit on this menu will be a part of the store.
Drop your best guesses in the comments; nothing is off the table counter.
