The Anarchist, a self-proclaimed “anti-capitalist” café and coffee shop in Canada, with a “pay as you can” business model, will close at the end of this month after opening just over a year ago.
The Toronto store, which opened in March 2022, will close on May 30, the owner said. announced in a statementdenounced the “lack of intergenerational wealth and seed capital from morally bankrupt sources”.
The café offers drip coffee to customers at “pay as you can” prices while charging for other beverages and breakfast pastries such as espresso and tea beverages to subsidize lost revenue. I was. It also allowed the public to use restrooms and hang out in storefronts without shopping.
The store also sold radical books, art, pins and t-shirts.
The so-called “anti-capitalist cafes, shops and radical community spaces on stolen land” initially raised eyebrows, especially among conservatives and proponents of capitalism.
Locals also criticized the coffee shops for being overpriced, and accused the owners of being hypocritical for charging high prices while claiming they were against capitalist values and desires.
Despite the store’s closure, owner Gabriel Sims Fewer has sparked controversy, raised conservatives’ blood pressure, and experimented with “living and working in a way that doesn’t embrace pure misanthropy.” He called the short-lived business effort a “great success.” of capitalism. ”
“Unfortunately, the lack of generational wealth and seed capital from ethically bankrupt sources has made it difficult for me to survive the quiet winter season or grow in the way necessary to be sustainable in the long term. I am no longer able to do so,” he said in a statement posted on the anarchist website.
He ended his statement with a series of curses.
“Fuck the rich. Fuck you cops. Fk the states. Fuck the colonial death camps we call ‘Canada,'” Sims Fewer agreed. .
