Welcome to the Corner Store! A "bodega"-style store at the Barclays Center, with arena prices: soda, $8; water, $7, beer $13-$15

On a recent visit to the Barclays Center, I noticed the "Brooklyn Corner Store," a retail outlet set up, with yellow and red awning and signage, reminiscent of the venerable, yet fading New York bodega

However faithful the rendition, it's jarring: the Brooklyn Corner Store hardly resembles a bodega, known for modest pricing.

As shown in the screenshot at right, soda costs $8, water $7, beer $13 to $15, while snacks are $5 to $7.50. 

Empanadas and beef patties are $6 each.

This is what happens when you have a captive audience--pricing is surely similar at Madison Square Garden and other major venues.

It's just a little rich to liken it to a bodega, especially given the history of bodegas, as discussed below.

A little history on boedgas

A 7/30/02 New York Times article headlined These Colors Don't Run, But They Droop; Bodegas and Their Awnings Are Both Looking Tired notes that the "origins of the red-and-yellow bodega awnings and their near-universal application are something of an urban mystery."

The awnings, according to the article, "were the height of modernity in the 1970's," as Hispanic--notably Dominican--shopkeepers expanded. As of 2002, however, many bodega owners were hoping to modernize with newer awnings, but couldn't afford it, given "tortilla-thin profit margins."

''Bodegas mean only one thing,'' one operator told the newspaper, ''mucho trabajo y poco dinero," translated as "much work and little money."

Maybe not at Barclays.