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Comment by pluc | Hacker News Reader

Nothing unique about deps. NYC has bodegas, UK has Spars, US has 7/11. Wherever you can still go to buy cigarettes/vapes, beer, sweets, sugary drinks and porn mags, that's a dep.

It has long since lost its etymological purpose. Deps are entirely unhealthy waste of spaces now that grocery stores are omnipresent.

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I'm (UK) old enough to remember the old school type of corner shop that a "dep" represents. It isn't a Spar (Dutch import) and it isn't a 7/11.

A dep sounds like the subject of "Open all hours". Nurse Gladys would approve!

They sound like an “Offy”.

Also very similar to Spätis in Berlin (speaking as a Montrealer in Berlin)

https://allaboutberlin.com/glossary/Sp%C3%A4ti

The main innovation of Spätis is the tables outside. You can buy a cold beer for €2 and drink it with friends right outside, or go for a walk with it. The road beer (Wegbier) is a staple of long walks in good company.

Another difference with Spätis is you can buy beer at 8 am. I remember walking to work and seeing a bunch of old drunks at those tables.

Great for pre-drinks though

> Deps are entirely unhealthy waste of spaces now that grocery stores are omnipresent.

One dep takes the space of one apartment, and it helps the thousands of residents around it to not have to walk 15min to get milk.

Seems like a fair trade to me.

Yes, a dep is no different than a corner store with a beer/wine section, but 'dep' is an interesting regional word that is neither used in France nor westward of Quebec.

I recently learned from this web site that "all dressed" pizza is only used by the English population in Quebec to refer to a mushrooms, green pepper, pepperoni pizza The Quebec French use "tout garnie" which a direct translation. I wonder which was first.

Deps are unique in that they sell room temperature cheese curds next to the selection of chocolate bars at the till.

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