Title: TikTok Prank Sparks Conversation on Gentrification in Bushwick
In early February, a TikTok video featuring the exterior of a City Fresh Market grocery store in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with a sign for Erewhon, a trendy organic grocer in Los Angeles, went viral, sparking conversations about gentrification in the neighborhood.
The video, shared by social media accounts for Hotspot, a listings and recommendation app, showed the store’s interior and highlighted the prices of various items, some of which were real while others were exaggerated. The video garnered over 1.1 million views on Instagram and 600,000 views on TikTok.
Dulce Simono, a manager at City Fresh, called the video harmful and misleading, emphasizing that the prices shown were misinformation. Despite attempts to have the video removed, it continued to circulate on social media platforms.
The creators of the video, including Joey Cannizarro from Hotspot, aimed to draw attention to the changing landscape of Bushwick, which has seen an increase in white residents and higher-income households in recent years. The video compared prices at Erewhon and City Fresh, highlighting the neighborhood’s gentrification.
Arturo Payamps, the general manager of City Fresh, noted the evolving demographics of Bushwick, with more younger and diverse customers frequenting the store. He expressed optimism about the neighborhood’s transformation, attributing changes in prices to inflation.
As a response to the viral video, City Fresh plans to launch a TikTok account to engage with a wider audience and showcase the store’s offerings. The conversation sparked by the TikTok prank sheds light on the complex issues of gentrification and changing communities in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.
