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It’s about an hour from Berkeley, California, to Daly City, a modest estimate considering the state’s notorious traffic. It’s not a daily commute for Kaithleen Apostol, though it’s become biweekly.
For Filipino supergrocer Seafood City’s Late Night Madness events, she says, it’s worth it.
Having initially attended to mark October’s Filipino American History Month kickoff, Apostol, 28, has since gone three more times with her boyfriend and friends. She’s even brought her mom, who agreed a DJ in a Filipino grocery store wasn’t necessarily surprising. “Any gathering can turn into a party,” Apostol says of her heritage. “There’s any and no excuse necessary.”
Cash registers give way to turntables, otherwise the store’s format remains untouched. The vibe is lively and buzzy, complete with a street food-inspired menu in the grocery’s grab-and-go sections. People dance—and dance while shopping.
But this isn’t like Whole Foods playing its music louder after a certain hour on weekends. (Whether or not they admit it, we suspect it’s true.) The club scene at Seafood City is a genuine, music-based community leveraging its social currency to commemorate culture everywhere it grows. And it’s an example of the latest trend that turns the neighborhood grocery, corner store, and coffee shop into a city’s hottest club, no matter the time of day.
The growth in popularity of these events is fueled by a generational shift in socializing, an embrace of sober nightlife alternatives, and community building through culture sharing.
Apostol can’t remember the last time she heard budots, a form of electronic dance music originated in Davao City, Phillipines, in public.
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“It feels like a big family party from back home,” Apostol says of Seafood City’s Late Night Madness, compared to traditional nightclubs or a grimy bar. “There would be moments where you’re eating a tray full of lechon, then look over and see people line-dancing together. I’ve run into my second cousin, who I haven’t seen in 10 years, and my high school econ teacher. It’s crazy.”
For featured DJ JP Breganza, that’s the point. He’d been making a name for himself with sets in unique places like the Bay Area Cliffs or at a driving range when an Instagram user commented that he should “do this at Seafood City.” Luckily, he says his idea coincided with the launch of the grocer’s first night markets. Breganza was directly tapped by its marketing team to play Daly City. Later markets for Filipino American History Month and more have been co-organized with local nonprofit, SF Kollective.
Hosted during a store’s regular hours, Late Night Madness initially launched as a way to appeal to a younger, more experience-inclined clientele. It has slowly spread to other Seafood City locations across California and the West, including Nevada; Sugar Land, Texas; Canada, and, most recently, Chicago.
Oversaturation in the nightlife scene, low pay, and “horror stories” of feeling unsafe in clubs inspired Breganza to think outside the box for opportunities. Seafood City, he says, trusted his interpretation of how a Filipino American party would look.
“If you’ve been around Filipino culture, we know how to make something out of nothing and party anywhere, at any time, to celebrate with each other,” he says. “I play to honor the way I felt at those house parties, but I want to touch every generation. It’s a very cultural event, that’s what sets it apart. But you don’t have to be Filipino to join in.”
In true pop-up fashion, these parties aren’t dictated (or deterred) by the size of the produce section or checkout counter.
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MUNDO Soundsystem, a trio of DJs Guari, Rich Pascasio, and Flako (the latter known as Dos Flakos), transform bodegas in the Bronx, redefining nightlife with culturally driven raves.
At MUNDO, it’s crowded, it’s hot, it’s sweaty. As the bass thumps, the cooks behind the deli counter make slinging chopped cheeses “look like hibachi,” Flako says.
The Bronx natives say popping up in the bodega was the natural choice. After recognizing many neighborhood faces at their regular gigs in Brooklyn and Manhattan, the trio says they realized there was a lack of party venues uptown and in the Bronx. “The bodega is the nucleus of the community,” says DJ Guari says. “You can buy anything, you mingle with different people, you end up talking, you get comfortable. You’re at home, there’s no separation from your people.”
“The role it plays in the community, it’s intimate,” Flako adds.
They debuted the first bodega rave in late 2023, and the group has been committed to staying true to their roots and their raw “do it yourself” ethos since.
In September 2025, MUNDO Soundsystem caught the eye of Tequila Cazadores, which tapped them to launch the Bodega Rave Tour, with stops in San Francisco and Chicago.
But these parties aren’t just for night owls. Coffee shops across the country have embraced higher quality sound systems and curated daytime events with DJs capturing the same vibes—and get you home by 5 p.m. “Coffee clubbing” has increased substantially in interest, according to Eventbrite, which claims in Atlanta alone, interest has boomed 300% last year.
From Seattle’s Coffeeton Party connecting Latinos in the Pacific Northwest to Chicago’s Drip Collective and Atlanta’s Coffee Party ATL events (among others), the buzz is coming from much more than the beans. These spaces and events are activating an intergenerational, community consciousness and conversation. Organizers embrace the power of connecting attendees across different diaspora or other socioeconomic barriers through the universal languages of music and dance. In the process, they’re supporting small businesses without the pressures of substance use or other excess.
Santo Cafe inside Paraíso Taqueria & Mezcaleria in Washington, DC, garnered its all-ages following after launching their own “coffee raves” since July. Creative director and booker Tahmina Ghaffer says her approach lies in keeping the dance floor a place to “recharge, rather than recover from.”
“We wanted to have a daytime party where you didn’t have to wait all day and fight being tired by night or be hungover the next day,” she explains. “Being able to go to a fun party on the weekend during the daytime, that’s in a café, it feels more inclusive, accessible. It’s for everyone.”
Out of the underground and into the light, the best party might just be in the next aisle or spot around the corner.