It’s stability that Ms. Althaibani knows too well. Her son, Ahmed, has Type 1 diabetes. “When the supermarket closes at 9 and Ahmed’s sugar drops and he needs orange juice or something, it’s the bodega that I’ve had to turn to,” she said.

More than just a store, bodegas are oftentimes extensions of the home for many of their customers, Mr. Brannan suggests.

“They provide more than your basic necessities,” Mr. Brannan said. “It’s the check-in moment behind your house. It can’t be underestimated, the value the bodega has in providing a sense of calm and a sense of relief to their communities in times like these.”

Green Garden Deli on Malcolm X Boulevard fills that role for some shoppers in Harlem.

Hand sanitizer was nowhere to be found at the CVS Pharmacy on 125th Street and Lenox Boulevard. A shopper in the Rite Aid on Frederick Douglass Boulevard couldn’t find any there, either. “I’ve been everywhere,” she said with a sigh. “Target, Amazon, CVS. No one’s got hand sanitizer.”

But a few blocks away at Green Garden Deli, there was plenty. “But if you don’t shop here,” said Wadie Obeid, the owner of the bodega, “how would you know?”

Online, sellers were capitalizing on supply scarcity, selling rolls of toilet paper for $10 a piece and bottles of hand sanitizer for $60. But at the Green Garden Deli, Mr. Obeid pointed to a tub of Purell bottles selling for two dollars, his normal rate.

Mr. Obeid said he had noticed a slight uptick in sanitizer purchases from his usual customers, but was unaware of the panic buying some stores were experiencing.