Part 1: Zukin, S., Trujillo, V., Frase, P., Jackson, D., Recuber, T., & Walker, A. (2009). New Retail Capital and Neighborhood Change: Boutiques and Gentrification in New York City. City & Community, 8(1), 47–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6040.2009.01269.x

Part 2: Cultural value, gentrification, social classes, urban areas, retail stores, attrition, social conditions and trends

Part 3: Since the 1970s, certain types of upscale restaurants, cafés, and stores have emerged as highly visible signs of gentrification in cities all over the world. Taking Harlem and Williamsburg as field sites, we explore the role of these new stores and services (“boutiques”) as agents of change in New York City through data on changing composition of retail and services, interviews with new store owners, and discursive analysis of print media. Since the 1990s, the share of boutiques, including those owned by small local chains, has dramatically increased, while the share of corporate capital (large chain stores) has increased somewhat, and the share of traditional local stores and services has greatly declined. The media, state, and quasi-public organizations all value boutiques, which they see as symbols and agents of revitalization. Meanwhile, new retail investors—many, in Harlem, from the new black middle class—are actively changing the social class and ethnic character of the neighborhoods. Despite owners’ responsiveness to community identity and racial solidarity, “boutiquing” calls attention to displacement of local retail stores and services on which long-term, lower class residents rely and to the state’s failure to take responsibility for their retention, especially in a time of economic crisis.

Part 4: I chose to research gentrification because the act of trying to force people (usually the lower class or Latino and black communities) out of their homes enrages me. This article put very well, into simple yet touching words, the effects of gentrification. It states specifically how people feel when they see “boutiques” in place of the stores they felt comfortable in. It also paints the picture of how slowly these people are forced out of their home or misplaced to welcome tenants and neighbors of higher status. This article talks specifically about Williamsburg and Harlem but I will use it to speak on gentrification as a whole in NYC.

part 5:

“Although the archetypal quiche-serving “fern bars” of the early years have long since yielded to wine bars and designer clothing boutiques, these stylish commercial spaces still embody, serve, and represent a powerful discourse of neighborhood change. “

“Whatever be their specific form, though, “boutiques” contrast with older stores catering to a poorer, more traditional, and less mobile clientele.”

“In U.S. cities, low-income Black and Latino residents identify upscale consumption spaces with “white” interests, and although they may appreciate better goods and services that new stores make available, they resent the implication that white newcomers are responsible for the improvements (Freeman, 2006). “

“Moreover, by institutionalizing the consumption practices of more affluent and highly educated men and women in place of stores that serve the poor, it challenges the “right to the city” of low-income residents.”