Gentrification Sale: Get a Single Hand-Cut Summer French Fry for Just $8.99!

Jarritos with an $11.99 corkage fee, a hipster breakfast for $8.99? Act fast because you won’t want miss out on all the great deals going on at the Washington Heights “Gentrification in Progress Sale.”

A row of mom and pops located along a stretch between 162nd and 163rd streets got a Williamsburg-worthy facelift on Monday as Brooklyn locals Doug Cameron and Tommy Noonan plastered storefronts with scathingly sardonic signage pointing to the area’s demise. The campaign, first reported on by Vanishing NY, was created in response to the ousting of several of the block’s 30-plus-year-old businesses by a new landlord in order to make way for commercial tenants willing to pay higher rents.

As Doug Cameron told Vanishing NY:

“This time an entire block in Washington Heights is throwing a ‘Gentrification In Progress’ Sale. The Punta Cana is officially rebranded as the Casa de Campo, which is the name of an extremely wealthy gated community and resort in the Dominican Republic. Posters in its windows now offer ‘small plates for twice the price,’ such as a single Hand-Cut Seasonal Summer French Fry for $8.99. The awning displays the new Casa de Campo name, along with the logo of a large wealthy man with a monocle eating a tiny portion plate of food.” 

Images via Bill de Bodega

The article adds that in addition to Punta Cana (which is currently locked in a legal battle with the landlord), the only business to remain is the Frutera El Buen Camino. However, this is largely in part due to store’s structural issues. As such, the shop is sporting a new awning touting “artisanal” hipster treats more in line with the offers that already fill its neighbors, i.e.: “expensive green juices and kombuchas” with avocado rind, Central Park tree bark and cockroach flour. There are also Citrus Colonics for $79.

On a more serious note, the creative pair’s posters also urge passersby to support the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, or the “Bill de Bodega” as they’ve re-dubbed it here. The bill would ensure small business owners ten-year leases with an option for renewal. You can find out more about this campaign, and the greater effort to save NYC’s small businesses, over at their site.

We’ve also got a few more images in our gallery below.

[Via Vanishing NY]

RELATED:

• NYC Rents Are So High Even Starbucks Can’t Afford Them
• #SaveNYC: Campaign Urges New Yorkers to Band Together to Save City from Superrich
• Coffee Culture: Are Neighborhood Cafes the First Sign of Gentrification?