Coffee’s Role in Gentrification with Ebrik Coffee Room

When we first learned of Ebrik Coffee Room, we realized it wasn’t just their product that made them special. Coffee and beans may take center stage, yet Abbas Barzegar (Owner) and Shaa’ista Sabir (Creative Director) have equally elevated and promoted culture and accountability alongside their product. Once you get to know Ebrik, you return as a customer for the euphoric feeling that you can make an impact with something as simple as coffee.

Abbas and Shaa’ista joined Local Union’s moderator, Anthony Segreto, in our Sunday Coffee Service series to talk about coffee’s role in gentrification, businesses’ responsibility to community, and how consumers can be better stewards of community development.

Check out the video conversation or scroll down for highlights.

Defining Gentrification

The Oxford Dictionary describes gentrification as:

noun: the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste

At a more macro level, we often talk about gentrification as a process of urban revitalization that changes neighborhood dynamics and demographics. As Abbas explained, post-civil rights era in the United States saw desegregation and resulting white flight - the phenomena of white people moving out of urban areas into the suburbs. This shifting of population out of the cities and municipalities, plus the resulting loss of taxes, led to dramatic shifts in city investment dollars, causing extremely affluent (suburbs) and depressed (urban) zones.

Fast forward to the 80s and 90s and today, cities and municipalities were desperate for more tax money. It became viable for cities and municipalities to convince businesses to move into the depressed, now historically underfunded zones. Often they incentivize businesses by giving properties to developers for free or extremely discounted rates, in hopes of attracting employees into the area to live. These employees could afford to pay higher rent and invest even more dollars into the community, often at the expense of the local community who fails to benefit (or be included) from the new investment.

Coffee’s Role in Gentrification

Coffee shops, specifically third wave coffee shops, are often the first businesses to move into new areas. Which makes sense - everyone loves hanging out in a space that can be welcoming and inviting. Yet what happens when the cafe or shop isn’t inviting to all? When they cater to only existing customers but not locals (and arguably new customers)?

Some companies do a great job here; but, often businesses aren’t interested in integrating into the existing ecosystem and instead want to change the environment to match their goals. Abbas shared an example of a coffee shop who entered a historically black neighborhood in Denver, realized they were out of place and tried to make a joke out of it. ink! Coffee created an ad stating they were “happily gentrifying” since 2014. This poorly executed advertisement missed the mark and isolated the local community. Which isn’t just socially irresponsible but lost future revenue!

How Businesses Can Do Better

At Local Union, we live by the mantra a good business should serve, not sell. If we live by serving and meeting our customers where they are at, we will realize exponential success and happiness. Culturally, serving an existing and future customer base is crucial for long-term sustainability.

So how can coffee shops and businesses do better when they move into a new space? Businesses should embrace a willingness to respect and support existing culture. This doesn’t mean businesses can’t bring their values and new ideas to new areas. But when they do, they can work with locals to highlight the benefits of the new culture, gain feedback (then listen), and educate how the combined culture can benefit all.

As Abbas put it, “When you are going to be a host, be a good host.”

How Consumers (and Coffee Lovers) Can Do Better

Customers and consumers have an incredible amount of power in determining their local ecosystem. Here’s some suggestions on how to be a better consumer:

  1. Spend your dollars with companies that align with your values. Do your research and support businesses you want to stick around.

  2. Break the habit of stereotyping. If we say “coffee shop,” what comes to mind? What does it look like, sound like, feel like?

  3. Treat each business or cafe we visited as a place to be explored. Learn from the businesses and stores you visit. Who knows, it just might change your life!

If businesses are the hosts, then we are the guests. When a business opens their doors, we are invited to their home - which includes their products, their cultures, their values.

And if you are going to be a guest, be a good guest!

We’d love to hear from you. Have you witnessed gentrification impact your city? Do you know businesses that get it right? Or maybe some that missed the mark? Let’s keep the conversation in the comment section below.


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