We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steve. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steve below.

Hi Steve, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Blue Bodega’s name originates from the bodegas that have become commonplace in NYC culture. Growing up in NYC, I recognized just how important bodega’s are  to their local neighborhoods. They become community hubs and are often the life source of many neighborhoods in the sense that they are able to provide just about anything and everything. Batteries, a sandwich, and a handball on 3AM on Xmas morning? They’ve got you covered. In that same spirit, I wanted to name my shop Blue Bodega. The goal is to develop products that are not only influenced by the culture I grew up around, but to make sure to develop as many different types of products as possible – from home goods, to apparel, to smoking accessories, with many more to come.

Steve, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a lifelong New Yorker who never left. I majored in Architecture while at college here in NYC.  I learned invaluable lessons on how to approach design problems in all shapes and sizes (I often feel like I only learned so much about Architecture). Over the years I have sharpened my design & technical skills having worked at various types of design firms and working for different types of clientele. In early 2020 like many others, I found myself without a job and no potential job in sight. After several months of going stir crazy at home I entered a t shirt design competition which I ultimately didn’t win. I posted my design on my instagram and ended up having a lot more interest in the tee than I originally anticipated. I decided to produce it on my own and realized I would need a website to facilitate the sales – and so Blue Bodega was born. I realized that I had gained all of these technical skills over the years and I finally decided to put them to use for my own personal ambitions and ideas. Blue Bodega focuses on creating products that are inspired by NYC culture, graffiti culture, my background in Architecture, and ideas my friends pitch my way. There’s no real rhyme or reason in which products are created. The only real theme is that I try to make sure every object is functional in some way, for some part of the product to be witty, and I often try to reimagine objects that we are used to seeing in some other way.
My background in Architecture, my sense of humor, and my approach to design are what sets me apart from others. I’m often inspired by corny jokes, trips to the bodega, and in general my everyday experiences living here in NYC. On top of that once I have an idea for something I also have the technical ability to see it through on my own, even if its only to visualize it and discover that its a terrible idea. I also like to interact and check in with the ongoing community that has been following Blue Bodega to see what ideas they have and what are objects they need/want. A lot of the times people have good ideas, but don’t have the ability to make them a reality. Sometimes those ideas just need a designers spin on it as well. Eventually I’d love to get a point where Blue Bodega essentially acts as a curator, fabricator, and community marketplace in which people pitch ideas, I help develop/produce them and then help them sell it on the website.
I think I am most proud of just being able to start this business in general. I’ve always had a ton of creative ideas for products, furniture, etc , but never really acted on them. All it took was a global pandemic to make me realize that life is too short to wait until everything is perfect to give those ideas a shot. If not now then when?

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I do not manufacture my own products nor do I have any background in sourcing/production. Because my products are so varied I have to find different fabricators for each individual project. My first product was a t shirt which was easy to find a manufacturer as there are hundreds if not thousands of screen printers across the US. One of my next major ideas for a product I wanted to develop was a magnetic glassboard with a custom image (simiar to dry erase board). I did digging into companies in the US that could make it and got quotes for outrageous amounts knowing that they were probably producing these products overseas. I figured to cut the middle man and go directly to some of these international factories by utilizing Alibaba. I had never used it before, but was determined to make my idea a reality at an affordable price for my potential customers. I first sorted through various vendors based on pricing and examples of previous works they had done. The biggest lesson I learned along the way is that it is always worth it to pay for samples to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting. Even then, I learned that unless you’re paying for a third party quality control checker there is always a chance that a small percentage of the total order will have some kind of error which is all a part of the game. If anything the goal becomes learning how to minimize that percentage by as much as possible by staying on top of the vendors by always asking for updates, photos, and samples along the way.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Like many others I still work a fulltime job which helps supplement Blue Bodega. Luckily I only had to invest a few hundred dollars for my initial run of t shirts (my first product). I was able to essentially double my cash on those and then used the money made from that for the next product and so on. I like to treat the business as having a life of its own and want to see how far I can get without having to inject my personal savings into it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bluebodeganyc.com
• Instagram: @bluebodeganyc

Image Credits
The Blue Bentel Bottle and Anthora Grinder photos are credited to @Natives1990. All other images are by Blue Bodega.