Reader: This Is a Bodega? Nice Free Commercial, Westword

Here's the story behind Town Pump Provisions, which opened Friday in Cherry Creek.

Real estate broker Dana Monfort was looking around that walkable neighborhood, wondering why she couldn't find some basic necessities, like Advil. "In New York, they have little bodegas on every street corner (usually run by Latino families)," she says. "And then we were in California one time, and we ran into this little place in Napa Valley." There she not only bought "some water, some snacks, and then a really, really good bottle of wine," but also found Advil.

"I was like, we need this exact thing in Cherry Creek," she recalls. "The original idea was just the bodega." But then she added a fast-casual sandwich, salads and burrito deli, as well as an outpost of Little Man Ice Cream, its eleventh in metro Denver.

While some readers welcome the concept, others are highly critical, set off by two specific words: "bodega" (which has already inspired a lawsuit involving another Denver eatery) and "Monfort" (yes, the founder married into the family that owns the Colorado Rockies). And in their comments on the Westword Facebook post of the story about Town Pump Provisions opening, readers also take a few swipes at Westword. Says Patrick: 

Bodega? Nice free commercial.

Adds Cam: 

This is a rich NIMBY’s idea of a bodega.

Notes Dave: 

No cat = no bodega. And where are the hardware items?

Responds Kevin:

A "bodega" is what the elite and rich call a convenience store. Because there isn't a 7-Eleven like, five minutes from everywhere...including Cherry Creek.

Adds Cheryl:

Yeah, well, we used to have a Safeway, a pharmacy and a gas station, but now we have a lot of apartments. I guess we can buy overpriced aspirin at her bodega.

Offers Good:

Whole Foods definitely has Advil and DayQuil and is three blocks away from her new bodega.
FU, Westword.

Replies Phil: 

This place looks fine; I've seen a lot more offensive projects in Cherry Creek. Calm down, folks.

Observes John:

A fluff piece about another Monfort venture. You're really riling up the natives! Such hostility!

Suggests Ryan:

She should have opened that store at Coors Field; plenty of people sick of a few things there.

And then there's this from James:

Wow, dude. Have you ever been to a "bodega" before? If so, I'm wondering how difficult it was to write this story. Heavy booze? Thinking about those mortgage payments? It is tough to make up bullshit on this level without some major "motivation." Believe me, I know.

With that, I'll suggest a more apropos headline for this story: "Rich clueless woman opens ridiculous business to cater to her personal needs, continues to stifle opportunity and hurt economic progress in our region."

The caveat would be: "and she is allowed do so because economics and decency simply don't matter for people with this amount of money."

I'm currently taking over/unders on how much "Little Ms. Monfort" paid for that hideous getup she wore for the photo shoot. Current odds suggest that it's probably more than the average Denver residents' rent. Fuck that. Way to make her feel "special" for a day.

So... I know that keeping a job in Denver media is largely dependent on making the Monforts happy. But seriously dude, if you are going to be a journalist, particularly for an "independent" paper, I suggest you grow some cajones.

For the record, author Gil Asakawa went to college in Brooklyn, where he regularly shopped at bodegas.

Have you been to a real bodega in Denver? What do you think of Town Pump Provisions? Post a comment or share your thoughts at [email protected].