It’s no surprise that somewhere as diverse as New York City has tens of thousands of ethnic convenience stores commonly referred to as “bodegas.” It also doesn’t hurt that the city kind of invented the term. The bodega comes from the Spanish “la bodegas” that popped up in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods in New York City at the turn of the 20th century.

In Colorado, authentic bodegas might be harder to spot unless, of course, you live in Aurora. In a city of nearly 350,000, where residents come from more than 130 countries, these ethnic groceries are tucked along even the most suburban neighborhood corners and inside the most unassuming strip malls.

Bodega is actually the Spanish word for “warehouse,” which is why these stores are so much fun to visit. They are often overpacked, jumbled, intimate experiences unlike the overly manicured big-box grocers. They’re spaces where one can find something as mundane as paper towels and dish soap sitting next to elaborate ethnic dresses, dishware and other delightful bric-a-brac.

For instance, on a wood shelf next to the counter at Aurora’s Asia Mart located just off East Colfax Avenue and Chester Street, are piles of paperback prayer books. The books are for Hindus and some Buddhists, explains 18-year-old Brakash Magar, an employee who works for his uncle at the store.

He pulls out one whose cover is a rainbow-colored illustration of the Hindu gods Shiva, Ganesh and Hanuman.

Behind the counter hang strings of red, green and gold “pote.”  The necklaces are a type of beadwork from Nepal and other southeast Asian countries. Magar says to be careful when wearing pote because some necklaces signify you are married just like a wedding ring would in other parts of the world.

Magar says that most of the items sold in Asia Mart are imported from Nepal, where both he and his uncle emigrated from several years ago.

“We sell Indian clothes, but they’re from my country,” he says, pointing to the back of the store, where a vibrant white, lace dress with a bright, intricately-embroidered pink flower juts out among the jumble of red, yellow and green saris hastily folded onto hangers.

The majority of people in Nepal are Hindu, he explains, and they share many cultural and religious traits with their large neighbor to the south.

Magar says the store’s most-popular items are the vegetables and other food items, which range from masala noodles and Druk mango pickles to dry radish and gundruk, a fermented leafy green vegetable.

“It’s a Nepali community store, so mostly they come here,” he says. It’s not unusual, he says, for Nepalis to gather at the store simply to socialize, eat  and catch up on what’s going on back home.

This trait, too, is another one associated with the bodega.

Lifelong New Yorker Jake Dobkin, who helped create Gothamist.com, describes a bodega as a store with “a resident cat, slightly dusty groceries, and a few neighborhood guys bullshitting about current events.”

Another aisle of Asia Mart displays rows of copper, brass and bronze cookware mixed in with the occasional bejeweled tiny deity such as Buddha or Ganesh for sale. There are also the hand-woven Nepalese sitting stools that sell anywhere from $15 to $20 per stool, depending on the quality.

While stores such as Asia Mart specialize in items from India and Nepal, other Aurora bodegas, such as Shebelle Market at East Alameda Avenue off of Havana Street, offer an array of international wares that you can purchase along with a pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

Owner Tulu Hamzu is Ethiopian, but when asked about the most interesting items for sale in Shebelle, he immediately points to a gold-and-white porcelain electric incense burner from Japan.

He points out, however, that customers should not pass up the traditional Ethiopian fare sold in the store which includes plastic bags of baso, or roasted barley.

“It’s very good to eat, you can make juice with water or sugar with it, or you can make it with milk and sugar. The fast runners in Ethiopia eat this,” he says.

Clear plastic bags of green coffee that Hamzu says are imported from Ethiopia also line Shebelle’s shelves.

To go with the beans, Shebelle sells stacks of handmade, clay coffee pots known as jebena. Coffee is made with jebena as part of a ceremony that is time-consuming but rewarding in deliciousness. Generally, the beans are washed, hand-roasted, then ground with a mortar and pestle (also for sale in Shebelle). The grounds are then poured into the clay coffee pot, mixed with water and the pot is heated until steam comes out of its spout. Once ready to serve, it’s mixed with spoonfuls of sugar and often with popcorn on the side. 

Large bags of teff are another Ethiopian staple sold at Shebelle. Teff is the primary grain used to make injera, the delicious spongy bread that sops up Ethiopian curries, stews and salads. Freshly-made injera is also sold at Shebelle, and customers can even purchase the colorful, woven injera baskets it’s served in at area restaurants.

“Bodegas are highly personal,” writes Jamie Feldmar in piece that looks at the many definitions and reasons New Yorkers love their bodegas.

As such, on any given day, it’s hard to get much facetime with Hamzu, as he seems to intimately know many of the customers who frequent his store.