Is the “New” Brooklyn Economy For Real?
Allison Robicelli
Robicelli’s
I don’t think it’s a new Brooklyn economy. I think this country is realizing how great the old Brooklyn economy used to be. The economy that was built by the front lines of people seeking the American dream. And maybe that’s what the rest of the country needs to see right now—that in Brooklyn, everything is possible, just as it has always been.
We never started out to be a part of some sort of “economic movement.” We set out to be small-business owners. That’s always been the Brooklyn way. We’ve been a city of immigrants for hundreds of years, setting up here with next to nothing and finding a way to survive—reinventing the traditions of their homelands and in the process creating a distinctly new culture.
The notion that we’re “food artisans” is a little ridiculous to me. We wanted to be like Alba’s, or Ebinger’s, or Rispoli’s, or Junior’s. We were lucky enough to grow up in a town with the most amazing culinary traditions in America, and all we ever wanted was to follow in their footsteps.
This is a unique time for us. In the past 10 years, I have seen national chains popping up all over my hometown, raising the rents, forcing businesses that had been around for generations to close—and, most importantly, changing the buying patterns of Brooklynites. It’s that last part that makes me think that perhaps we’re stupid for clinging to the old ways of business, the ways that made us feel like we were a part of a real community instead of merely consumers and inhabitants.
We’ve also seen, in the past 10 years, immigration not from overseas but rather other parts of America. Brooklyn was always a place we all dreamed of escaping from, and now people are fighting to get in. Some have claimed that they were the ones who brought this spirit of creativity, innovation, and economic change to our borough, but nothing could be further from the truth. This was a borough built by little old women working as seamstresses and hairdressers from their basements; by entire families living in the backs of stores and restaurants; by inventors, scrappers and hustlers.