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Barely a year after opening, an “anti-capitalist” Toronto coffee shop is closing its doors due to a lack of capital.
The Anarchist — a provider of “sweet and savoury” pastries and “trendy” coffees — was founded last April as a “subversive” alternative to what it called the usual model of workers “producing wealth for their parasitic employers.”
Instead, it will close permanently on May 30, according to a statement appended with the slogans “abolish work,” “people over profit,” and “land back.” The café was never able to employ more than one person, so Sims-Fewer will be its only layoff.
The café announced its demise with a lengthy screed denouncing its various enemies, including “professional class-traitors,” “Libertarians,” “the rich,” and Canada itself, which it called a “colonial death camp.”
“Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season, or to grow in the ways needed to be sustainable longer-term,” explained proprietor Gabriel Sims-Fewer.
The entire enterprise had been subsidized by Pop Coffee Works, a micro-roastery that provided The Anarchist’s coffee and commercial space, apparently at much lower rates than market value. Sims-Fewer did thank the roastery “for their generosity and patience,” although he has noted repeatedly that they operate their business on “stolen land.”
“Free market has been the best way in history to lift people out of poverty. Glad you’re out of business,” reads one community reaction posted by The Anarchist to its Instagram page.
The Anarchist openly barred members of the military and police officers from its premises, and often didn’t seem to be too happy about other patrons as well.
Service at The Anarchist apparently included explaining to a paramedic that they were willing participants in an ongoing genocide, or declaring that middle-aged “cis white men” who entered the store should be required to pass a “Basic Human Decency” qualification before ordering.
Upon opening, a mission statement by Sims-Fewer denounced the entire speciality coffee industry as a “toxic, oppressive” morass that was a “harbinger of gentrification.”
Although The Anarchist sold the exact same menu of high-priced coffees as everyone else (a simple hot chocolate is $5), Sims-Fewer maintained that his model was different in that it did not seek “short-term profits” and instead existed solely “to perform whatever function the workers decide, in whatever way the workers decide to do it.”
Open 9-5, Wednesday through Sunday, The Anarchist also included a small shop where patrons could buy handbags, stickers, posters and t-shirts bearing the slogans “do crime,” “all shoplifters go to heave,,” “compost all terfs” and “all cops are bastards,” among others.
“Painfully aware of the danger of commodifying radical politics, I try to work with small, relatively ethical (it’s all relative in capitalism) supplier-creators, keeping prices as low as possible,” read a shop disclaimer.
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[Archive]
Barely a year after opening, an “anti-capitalist” Toronto coffee shop is closing its doors due to a lack of capital.
The Anarchist — a provider of “sweet and savoury” pastries and “trendy” coffees — was founded last April as a “subversive” alternative to what it called the usual model of workers “producing wealth for their parasitic employers.”
Instead, it will close permanently on May 30, according to a statement appended with the slogans “abolish work,” “people over profit,” and “land back.” The café was never able to employ more than one person, so Sims-Fewer will be its only layoff.
The café announced its demise with a lengthy screed denouncing its various enemies, including “professional class-traitors,” “Libertarians,” “the rich,” and Canada itself, which it called a “colonial death camp.”
“Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth/seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources left me unable to weather the quiet winter season, or to grow in the ways needed to be sustainable longer-term,” explained proprietor Gabriel Sims-Fewer.
The entire enterprise had been subsidized by Pop Coffee Works, a micro-roastery that provided The Anarchist’s coffee and commercial space, apparently at much lower rates than market value. Sims-Fewer did thank the roastery “for their generosity and patience,” although he has noted repeatedly that they operate their business on “stolen land.”
“Free market has been the best way in history to lift people out of poverty. Glad you’re out of business,” reads one community reaction posted by The Anarchist to its Instagram page.
The Anarchist openly barred members of the military and police officers from its premises, and often didn’t seem to be too happy about other patrons as well.
Service at The Anarchist apparently included explaining to a paramedic that they were willing participants in an ongoing genocide, or declaring that middle-aged “cis white men” who entered the store should be required to pass a “Basic Human Decency” qualification before ordering.
Upon opening, a mission statement by Sims-Fewer denounced the entire speciality coffee industry as a “toxic, oppressive” morass that was a “harbinger of gentrification.”
Although The Anarchist sold the exact same menu of high-priced coffees as everyone else (a simple hot chocolate is $5), Sims-Fewer maintained that his model was different in that it did not seek “short-term profits” and instead existed solely “to perform whatever function the workers decide, in whatever way the workers decide to do it.”
Open 9-5, Wednesday through Sunday, The Anarchist also included a small shop where patrons could buy handbags, stickers, posters and t-shirts bearing the slogans “do crime,” “all shoplifters go to heave,,” “compost all terfs” and “all cops are bastards,” among others.
“Painfully aware of the danger of commodifying radical politics, I try to work with small, relatively ethical (it’s all relative in capitalism) supplier-creators, keeping prices as low as possible,” read a shop disclaimer.
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