TOPIC

Retail

God's Garage

It's complicated inside New York City's 99 cent stores, where creativity and exploitation coexist.

Whereabouts

8-33717

The spot sprung more spots.

Circulation Desk

Second Chances

Recent books explore the potential in underused and overdetermined spaces, from mid-century American city centers and suburban shopping malls to the current glut of vacant retail storefronts and offices.

Beyond Diverse

A pedestrian plaza in Queens is widely celebrated for its worldliness. But beneath a colorful surface are more radical lessons in coexistence.

Whereabouts

6-29731

People love a place with “good light.”

Market Share

Designed for other uses and users, Corona Plaza has become a critical infrastructure for streetside selling. In the face of economic and legal pressures, vendors are organizing themselves and the space to ensure both individual survival and collective prosperity.

Dispatches

This Is What We're Seeing, This Is What We're Not Seeing

Mark Dicus of the SoHo Broadway Initiative reflects on the ups and down of a tumultuous year along one of New York City's most heavily-trafficked pedestrian corridors.

Shelf Life

Cornerstone Memories

Justo Martí's midcentury photographs of Manhattan and Brooklyn bodegas provide a rare glimpse at the history of the spaces and signs cementing Latinx life in the city, and highlight the continuing work of New Yorkers to make the city home.

Ship Shape

The on-demand economy demands a lot from New York City’s streets. How might logistics better integrate with the city’s sidewalk ballet?

Digital Frictions

Connecting at the Counter

More than a convenience store, the humble bodega is a deeply networked site where neighborhood life intersects with larger scales of social, cultural and economic exchange — and a growing digital presence.