STARBUCKS COMING TO BED-STUY?

There’s this long running joke that spans through the hoods facing gentrification through NYC. If a Starbucks pops up, the neighborhood is lost. Sort of like when people say “there goes the neighborhood,” when black people move into predominately white neighborhoods. Bed Stuy and Bushwick are two neighborhoods that have been infiltrated by yuppies and their bourgeois art shows, trash pizzerias, bike stores, bars and weak ass coffee shops. Standing at 774 Broadway is Fat Albert’s Warehouse, a store that borders Bed Stuy and Bushwick. Fat Albert’s Warehouse is all that’s right with a discount store. From over-the-counter products to clothing to appliances and household items, Fat Albert’s got you for dirt cheap! Growing up in Sumner Projects, I’ve always known the greatness that is Fat Albert’s Warehouse. Hearing that Fat Albert’s Warehouse is soon to be replaced by STARBUCKS, is hearing a nail being hammered into a coffin for both Bed Stuy and Bushwick. To soften the blow, Starbucks is saying this location will be a “community store” that will offer job training for 16-to-24 year olds currently out of school. I CALL BULLSHIT. The people of Bed Stuy and Bushwick don’t need your shitty, overpriced coffee. There’s about 4 bodegas in that area serving coffee that’s way tastier and cheaper than what you have. All the Puerto Ricans on Graham Ave are drinking Cafe Bustelo. As far as your “community service,” you’re only training young, poor teens and adults to work for businesses that will continue to steal their labor in return for cheap wages that are impossible to live on. Your “community service” is not enough when we are being displaced out of the same community you’re getting ready to cash out in. Can those 16-to-24 year olds take those checks and go rent themselves one of those little luxury apartments popping up on Broadway? NO, NIGGA! Don’t try to act as if you care about the people who have long felt at home in Bed Stuy and Bushwick. I want to give a big FUCK YOU to the representative of the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, for vouching for this particular location as a “smart choice” due to Woodhull Hospital being directly across the streets and the “influx of young professionals.” Young professionals as in yuppies, right? GTFOH and keep your shitty, dark roast.