r/bodegacats • u/CookieTheBodegaCat • 3d ago
Bodega Cat Cookie's Story
The owner of Market Deli on the Upper East Side has been behind the same counter for 35 years, and at this point he has stopped asking why strangers keep showing up with professional camera equipment and crouching down on his floor. They are not shooting the shelves. A lot of them walk out without buying anything at all. By his own rough count, roughly 14,000 people a year come through the door for a reason that has nothing to do with groceries.
They come for Cookie.
Cookie is a six-year-old cat who turned up at the store near 74th and First Avenue as a kitten and simply stayed. She was, for a while, just a cat. Then the cameras started. She has been written up by national outlets, found by strangers through Instagram, and filmed by a crew that flew in from Japan for the specific purpose of pointing a lens at her. Her owner has never entirely understood the appeal, but he lets people shoot. And this fall Cookie is getting the most permanent version of the treatment yet.
Cookie has her own Instagram account with about 270 followers called @ cookiethebodegacat
Cookie is one of six cats from the neighborhood appearing in “Bodega Cats of New York,” a 240-page hardcover written by Dan Rimada with photographs by Gulce Kilkis.
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u/Steve10003 2d ago
Seems like the decent thing to do would be to buy something and support the business, even if it’s just a soda. C’mon, people.
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u/AgentClockworkOrange 3d ago
Cookie is adorable! 🥰