i have also heard them called shopashits, which is my favorite.

I’m from Iowa, if you’re curious.

And using the phrase ‘PC gone mad’ (PC meaning ‘political correctness’ to those of you who might not be familiar with, ah, particular areas of British journalism) usually means that the phrase ‘you couldn’t make it up’ and even occasionally ‘I’m not racist but…’ is never that far away.

In Australia they’re not usually part of the ‘counter display’ but instead just sitting near the hot pies in some kind of warming/steaming thing but I’m sure essentially they’re the same in every regard apart from the fact they’re not on the counter.

And yes I’ve eaten many, although I doubt I’ve ever eaten one sober and most certainly usually after far too many bongs in my younger days.

Also further up the page there was some discussion about Milk Bars and Deli’s in Australia. Something I’ve talked to my cousins lots about (them Perth, me Melbourne). Yes in most of the country they’re Milk Bars but not in any part of W.A I’ve been in, there they think you’re an idiot for calling them a Milk Bar. Also my Kiwi friends all still call them Dairy’s despite a Dairy clearly being a place Milk is produced at not sold to kids alongside chocolate and candy. Silly Kiwis.

I live in Philly too! I’ve never used nor heard the term stop ‘n go here. They’ve always been corner stores or corner delis. The Wawa convenience store chain is all over the place here, so of course you end up saying Wawa a lot as well.

I’ve lived in different parts of L.A. County practically my entire life, and have never heard them referred to as bodegas except by New Yorkers. Maybe Spanish-speakers call it that or something, though one guy above said they call it “la licor.”

Sometimes the “-lädeli” part is dropped completely. “Ich mues no schnäll zum Albaner go Bier hole” translates to “I just need to get some beer from the Albanian.”

in San Antonio & outlying south central Texas areas they are, or were, called “ice houses”, an anachronism from when beer & ice were all they sold. Maybe this is passing away.

I’ve heard the term “package store” used before, but usually only in association with liquor sales. But even then, at least here in North Alabama, those shops are called “liquor stores”. I’ve only heard “package store” used in South Alabama.

If it just sold groceries, it was a corner shop (in 70s they were commonly run by europeans, so we also called “wog shops” -racist times)

A newsagents sold magazines, newspapers some lollies and cigarettes. A chemist filled your prescription. you bought grog from the bottle-o (bottle shop) to take home. Most bottle shops were attached to a pub (public house) which also had a bar and a lounge. Traditionally the men drank in bars which were a tiled floors and walls. Women (and sometimes children) sat in the Ladies Lounge, which was a bit nicer.

Google “six o’clock swill”

I think like most things in SoCal, you call it by whatever it was called wherever you came from. If you are multiple generation in SoCal, then I think most folks resort to the proper name, like the freeways (the 405).

When I lived in Orange, most of the neighbors remember the stores by who owned them (the nice Vietnamese store (South Market); the cranky Korean (Kwik-Mart, which now has a big sign saying it is under new ownership), etc).

In Queens and Brooklyn, everything that isn’t a corporate owned convenience store – slurpy machines and stuff – is a bogega, regardless of the nationality of who owns it. I’ve got La Plaza Mexico two blocks down from me – a traditional kind of bodega – and then a block in the other direction, the “Woodside Super Convenient” converted from an old drug store (still has the cabinets), which despite being owned by guys from Bangladesh is also a bodega… this sells, apart from beer, a bewildering array of toys, Santeria candles and Indian spices. Another block down is another one owned by people who seem to be Egyptian or Syrian. They moved into a bodega that had been there for a while, and kept most of the style – the red yellow and blue awning with the flashing lights, and all of the rest of it… but they got rid of the beer.

When you get to the outer boroughs of NYC everything is a mashup… we’ve got a local video store called “El Coreano” (the Korean) because we’re a little bit of everything here.

The older name, before there were run by chinese people, is “ultramarinos”, that is a shop that sells products “that come from the other side of the sea/ocean”. This has not been widely used since the 80′s.