What makes a bodega special? Is it the random selection of products, the people that run it, the pricing. Or maybe the only reason we frequent our local bodega is because its our local bodega. The Banana Grove on east 22nd near Nanaimo used to be about a block from my house but not anymore and I still go there on the regular. Now I'm not saying that you'll find everything you need here, because you wont. What I am saying is that the Grove is a locally owned, fairly priced, East Vancouver gem. It was Christmas eve 2010, I was responsible for cooking the feast. Little did I know that all the grocery stores would be closed Christmas day. 5pm I began to run around Vancouver looking for any grocery shop still open but everyone had closed for the holiday. When I finally went by the grove they were closed. I could see the owner and a couple employees inside cleaning up getting ready to leave. As a last ditch attempt to get what we needed for Christmas I banged on the door hoping that they could help. They ended up opening up just for us as we proceeded to get a full Christmas dinner worth of groceries. They truly saved Xmas that year. Like I said, you might not find everything you need, but thats not always whats important. 
Banana Grove, 2705 22nd Ave E, Vancouver, BC V5M 2X8, Phone number(604) 435-0646
Banana Grove, 2705 22nd Ave E, Vancouver, BC V5M 2X8, Phone number(604) 435-0646