Social media outraged at coffee chain after it 'mocks' residents in 'historically black' Denver area with advert reading 'Happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014!'

  • ink!Coffee said it regrets placing the sign outside its Denver Five Points store
  • The advert was placed near 29th and Larimer streets, a part of Denver that was once known as the 'Harlem of the West'
  • Civil rights organization, the NAACP, also condemned the store for its lighthearted approach to gentrification
  • The coffee brand later apologized for the sign in a message posted to social media

A coffee shop in Colorado has apologized after outraged social media users lambasted the store for praising gentrification in a traditionally black neighborhood.

ink! Coffee said on Wednesday that it regrets placing a sidewalk sign outside its Denver Five Points neighborhood branch that reads 'Happily gentrifying the neighborhood since 2014!' 

'Nothing says gentrification like being able to order a cortado,' reads the other side of the sign, according to The Denver Post.

ink!Coffee said it regrets placing the sign outside its Five Points store in Denver, Colorado

ink!Coffee said it regrets placing the sign outside its Five Points store in Denver, Colorado

The advert was placed near 29th and Larimer streets, a part of Denver that was once known as the 'Harlem of the West'

The advert was placed near 29th and Larimer streets, a part of Denver that was once known as the 'Harlem of the West'

The advert was placed near 29th and Larimer streets, a part of Denver that was once known as the 'Harlem of the West.'

'My first reaction was, 'Is this real?''... because it's just so mind blowing,' said Ru Johnson, a local writer who spoke with The Post. 

'Their sign was almost like a poke in the eye for the people who have worked to make the community what it is, and a lot of those people have been pushed out. Who created this sign, sent it to manufacture and put in outside your business?'

Johnson later tweeted a picture of the sign, which immediately drew a litany of negative comments aimed at the store. 

'@inkcoffee proudly flaunting their white privledge (sic) in 5 points. This is what is wrong with Denver,' one commentor posted to Twitter. 

'@inkcoffee fire your communications people immediately. WTF are you thinking?,' wrote another. 

Civil rights organization, the NAACP, also condemned the store for its lighthearted approach to gentrification

Civil rights organization, the NAACP, also condemned the store for its lighthearted approach to gentrification

News of the sign on social media almost immediately drew a litany of negative comments aimed at the store

News of the sign on social media almost immediately drew a litany of negative comments aimed at the store

Civil rights organization, the NAACP, also condemned the store and its lighthearted approach to gentrification, a phenomenon some minority communities blame for pricing them out of homes and economic opportunities.

'Your sign referenced above has been flagged as mocking of and hurtful to those, especially African Americans and other (People of Color), who have been forced to surrender their homes and businesses to deep pocket gentrification efforts in Denver's central/downtown communities,' Rosemary Lytle, president of the NCAAP's Colorado branch, wrote in an email to The Post. 

The coffee brand later apologized for the sign in a message posted to social media, telling caffeine lovers that they had made a mistake in their advertising.

“We clearly drank too much of our own product and lost sight of what makes our community great,' the ink! Coffee post to Twitter and Facebook reads.

'We sincerely apologize for our street sign. Our (bad) joke was never meant to offend our vibrant and diverse community.' 

The coffee brand later apologized for the sign in a message posted to social media

The coffee brand later apologized for the sign in a message posted to social media