'Anti-capitalist' cafe closes down after one year due to not making enough money
Topics: World News, Food and Drink, Business, Canada
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@theanarchistcafe
Topics: World News, Food and Drink, Business, Canada
An 'anti-capitalist' cafe has closed down after one year due to not making enough money
The multi-functional space, based in Canada, describes itself as an 'anti-capitalist, anti-colonial cafe, shop and radical community space on stolen land'.
The Anarchist cafe, run by owner Gabriel Sims-Fewer, was once an integral part of the downtown Toronto community, known for its pay-what-you-can offering.
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The cafe first opened its doors to the public in March of last year, with an ethos of making specialty coffee drinks accessible to everyone - regardless of their class or income status.
It became known for allowing customers to pay what they could for their caffeine fix, as well as selling a whole range of revolutionary texts, independent artwork and other merch.
Customers were also not required to make a purchase in order to go to the restroom or use the space.
After providing coffee, community and conversation to the local area for 14 months, the cafe has since gone out of business after not surviving the quieter winter months.
The Anarchist took Instagram to break the news to its three thousand followers last week.
The social media announcement explained: "Sad news!
"It's been amazing. I hope to see lots of you between now and the end of the month."
The full closing statement was posted to the The Anarchist's official website by Gabriel, informing customers they would be closed for business come 30 May.
The statement explained the reasons as to why the cafe was forced to shut its doors in the first place.
Gabriel wrote: "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."
The owner then issued some thank you messages to those who helped the business first take off, adding: "I'd like to say a huge thank you to Pop Coffee Works, my coffee supplier and landlords, for their generosity and patience; they could easily have sold this space, or rented for more than twice what they've charged me, so this place wouldn't have existed without them."
The coffee supplier in question allowed Gabriel to take over and run its already-existing cafe free of charge for six whole months back in 2022.
It also discounted the rent in the following months.
Gabriel went on to thank their 'partners, friends, and family for their huge amounts of support' adding 'without which I'd honestly be dead, or at least unhoused by now'.
The owner's final thanks was for 'all the customers who have given their very vocal, and of course financial, support over the past year'.
Nevertheless, Gabriel noted it had been 'an amazing experience' all-round.
"The Anarchist has been a huge success in every way I hoped, and has given me so much inspiration and education that I plan to put to use in future projects," the owner continued.
Gabriel concluded the closing statement: "F*** the rich. F*** the police. F*** the state. F*** the colonial death camp we call 'Canada'."
UNILAD has reached out to The Anarchist cafe for comment.