Starbucks Is Shutting Down Kismet, A Local Turkish Cafe Under The Claim They Serve Espresso

Starbucks is shutting down Kismet, a local Turkish cafe under the claim they serve espresso

Spoilers: they don't. It's Turkish coffee.

In the center of Alderwood Mall in Washington, there's two kiosks.

One is a creation built from the ground up (Literally. They had to install the plumbing and electric themselves.) by a married couple from Turkey. They had a restaurant before immigrating here, and chose to set up shop in a region with a huge middle eastern population. Achma, simit, baklava, Nutella Bomb (Bomb of Izmir remix), börek, and whatever baked goods they're giving a whip up are worked on as they chat with you. Turkish coffee is brewed and served in beautiful little cups, Italian sodas prepped, and with a baked good of choice enjoyed at the wrap around counter. The place has become a tiny cultural island of familiarity, where friends and families gather to chat, eat and drink.

The other is a duplicate stamp fast food kiosk by a bloated multi-billion dollar corporation that's already shut down one of its three (3) locations within the mall, leaving yet another unoccupied dead space.

For years, it's ignored Kismet's presence while it made the usual hard climb from startup. But it's gotten popular. And they don't like it.

And so they walk up to Brookfield Properties who own the mall, and whip out the contract of no one else on the property serving espresso (yes. they have that. insidious isn't it?) demanding that the Turkish coffee shop close. Here's the screamer though: They. Don't. Serve. Espresso. But Brookfield won't squirm under the thumb of the megacorp unless it's made loud and clear what a big mistake that is.

They've put up a petition to try and rally enough support and noise to get this bullshit on the news.

If you would like to help, even signing the petition will carry this forward. Reblog and share it too, and let's see if we can't give Starbucks a well-earned kick in the groin.