#alderwood mall

LIVE

saint-ambrosef:
crunchyrain:
Starbucks is shutting down Kismet, a local Turkish cafe under the claim they serve espresso
Spoilers: they don’t. It’s Turkish coffee.
In the center of Alderwood Mall in Washington, there’s two kiosks.
One is a creation built from the ground up (Literally. They had to install the plumbing and electric themselves.) by a married couple from Turkey. They had a restaurant before immigrating here, and chose to set up shop in a region with a huge middle eastern population. Achma, simit, baklava, Nutella Bomb (Bomb of Izmir remix), börek, and whatever baked goods they’re giving a whip up are worked on as they chat with you. Turkish coffee is brewed and served in beautiful little cups, Italian sodas prepped, and with a baked good of choice enjoyed at the wrap around counter. The place has become a tiny cultural island of familiarity, where friends and families gather to chat, eat and drink.
The other is a duplicate stamp fast food kiosk by a bloated multi-billion dollar corporation that’s already shut down one of its three (3) locations within the mall, leaving yet another unoccupied dead space.
For years, it’s ignored Kismet’s presence while it made the usual hard climb from startup. But it’s gotten popular. And they don’t like it.
And so they walk up to Brookfield Properties who own the mall, and whip out the contract of no one else on the property serving espresso (yes. they have that. insidious isn’t it?) demanding that the Turkish coffee shop close. Here’s the screamer though: They. Don’t. Serve. Espresso. But Brookfield won’t squirm under the thumb of the megacorp unless it’s made loud and clear what a big mistake that is.
They’ve put up a petition to try and rally enough support and noise to get this bullshit on the news.
If you would like to help, even signing the petition will carry this forward. Reblog and share it too, and let’s see if we can’t give Starbucks a well-earned kick in the groin.
Update as of today (June 1st):
“Many of you have asked how you can help support us and our employees. Thank you! Your donation will help us handle expenses while we regroup and try to find a new path forward. Alderwood Mall gave us a Final Eviction Notice for June 1st.The lights are out at Kismet, and our Alderwood Mall café is closed. But, we are actively looking for a new location and we are determined to re-build our dream!”
They now have a GoFundMe to restart the Kismet Cafe at a different location.
Fuck you, Starbucks.
For those of you who are not aware, Starbucks actively pushes the landlords of the malls it leases space from to ban all other tenants in the same mall from selling any coffee products including local cafes, bakeries, and restaurants. A few years ago they also tried to ban a local Cuban bakery in Miami from selling Cuban coffee—even though Starbucks does not even sell Cuban coffee—but the Starbucks was bullied so hard by locals that they ultimately surrendered:
Miami Coffee Lovers Stopped Starbucks From Bullying Pinecrest Bakery
Bullying and boycotting multinational chains works. When they become public nuisances it is totally legitimate to withhold your business, leave bad reviews, and discourage everyone you know from patronizing their business—they are not as immune to public pressure as one might think.