New York (WABC) – For a coffee owner in Brooklyn, a call for help on social networks has turned into a sincere mission of his community to save his business.
Rachel Nieves is the co -owner of Coffee Buddies, one of the few and the most recent cafes belonging to Porto Rican in Williamsburg.
Nieves told Eyewitness News that his dream had started with a few thousand dollars and a coffee cart before opening and establishing its own brick and mortar store on Grand Street. The owner of the coffee says that she was considering the possibility of extending her business to another place when she heard of a potential rent hike and a gentrification of the neighborhood.
“It’s just my hard work, and today I have just known that I could not stay in the same lease because of the increase in rent, which is a reality for so many people,” said Nieves in a emotional video Posted on Tiktok. “But not only that, right next to me, they put a coffee, and I do not know if I seem so stupid by crying and complaining like that, but I just have the impression that you cannot win.”
Not only did this video obtained millions of views, but the message from Nieves resonated with countless people across the country. Just a day after publishing the video, Nieves says that crowds of people started to queue at Buddies Coffee to have a sip and support his small business, including celebrities like Joe Jonas.
“They were waiting online, and they brought music and they brought the whole party inside. So many people had shared that Williamsburg looked like and sounded as it was,” said Nieves.
In terms of meaning behind the name of Buddies Coffee, Nieves says it was a word often used by his partner Taylor Nawrocki, who helps manage the company.
“Taylor patina, so he says:” Oh, I’m going to meet my friends. “As if it was a word that he always used and just clicked,” she said.
Nieves said that she was initially afraid by the potential answer after publishing her video, even calling her friends to ask them if they thought she had made a mistake. She says she was not trying to win, but rather to share an overview of reality, good or evil, what is to manage a small business.
“I just had the impression that it was important to share a raw moment because I constantly post my day in the life of what it means to open a coffee,” she said.
In the end, Nieves says that his message to remember from this viral moment on social networks is never to abandon and that it is normal to express and be authentic with your emotions.
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Sonia Rincon has details on what the petition offers.
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