IS HARLEM STILL HARLEM?

    Gentrification is taking place all over New York City from midtown to Harlem. Lots of people think about housing situations when the topic is brought up but gentrification also consists of high end stores that open up in an area. Usually it would backfire because the store wouldn’t get the business it looked forward to because of the high prices in a low income community but if your community is a potential tourist attraction, the outcome can be good for the business.
      Recently a Whole Foods opened up on 125th street on the corner of Lenox avenue along with an Olive Garden and an American eagle outfitters. Whole Foods are usually located in midtown and downtown where the circulation of currency is greater. Items are priced two and three times higher than your average supermarket so most low income families who are on a budget most likely wouldn’t shop there. So think, why would they put a Whole Foods in a primarily black neighborhood? It’s because the neighborhood is developing, more stores are opening up which is bringing more visitors to the neighborhood. More visitors give property owners ambition to raise rent prices forcing families to move out because they can’t afford it. Once low income tenants are gone middle class families migrate to the area because the prices are perfect for their income.
    Now what once was an neighborhood filled with rich culture and landmarks for the families that grew up in the area is now industrialized and modernized for profit. If this continues,even if the motive behind it is positive, the neighborhood that we know as Harlem 125th Street will cease to exist.



WORK CITED

Bonanos, Christopher. “From Alligator Shoes to Whole Foods: Watching One Harlem Corner Over 28 Years”. New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/harlem-gentrification-whole-foods-vanishing-new-york.html. Web 13 July, 2017.


Cuozzo, Steve. “The Changes Coming to Harlem’s 125th Street Make it a Hot Spot”. New York Post. Http://nypost.com/2015/12/29/the-changes-coming-to-harlems-125th-st-make-it-a-hot-spot/amp/ web 29 December, 2015.