Not long after Bay Area News Outlets reported that Ayesha Curry concludes her sweet July shop in Oakland: “In order to prioritize the security of customers and workers”, the story in publications that the town is so overrun, nationally of publications which might be shown by the town. Crime and chaos that triggered one among its hottest celebrity entrepreneurs.
Perhaps Curry, a protracted -time advocate of the town, has unintentionally contributed to the negative narrative, because the Daily Mail describes “Lawless Oakland”. This doesn’t sit well with some residents and business owners who say that the town made positive changes last 12 months With a registered 33% waste in violent and ownership crimes in 2024 from the previous 12 months.
You also wonder if Curry's Uptown Home Goods Store and Cafe needed to struggle for other reasons as crime and “security”, including what they are saying, was an absence of customer support price on the twenty third Street location between Broadway and Telegraph Avenue.
“Just because (the sweet store in July) does not mean that it has something to do with crimes,” said Ken Houston, managing director of the non -profit beautification council, the areas around warehouse. “It could be financially. It could not work (only). Just because she is a curry does not mean that her business was financially viable. “
“Things change, but people like the negative one because they have to have an ugly duckling and try to make Oakland an ugly duckling.”
The entrepreneurial woman of the Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry opened the flagship and the Café in Oakland in 2021 for its sweet July retail brand. At that point she said that the inpatient space was her “love letter” to the “love letter” to the “” love letter “to the” city that hugged and supported and supported it. “The cookbook creator, restaurateur, TV chef and lifestyle influencer also explained that the name of the brand dates from the month of their wedding to Steph Curry and the month during which three of their 4 children were born. In an interview, Curry said that she selected a store front in a two-block corridor between Broadway and Telegraph because other firms were black women within the region. She aimed that her business is a life-style “hub” and “community” and offered products and concepts “for the house and the self”, on quite a lot of topics, including “food, beauty, wellness, faith, style, Female authorization and entrepreneurship. “
But 4 years later, the Oakland Storefront Dream from Sweet July ended when the corporate announced on Instagram that “the difficult decision had made the location” From February ninthBecause of “security concerns”. The post says: “We loved being a part of Oakland and are grateful for the community that opened her arms and hugged us. It was an honor to serve them. “
Representatives of Ayesha Curry and Sweet July did not respond to a request for information on certain incidents that carried out security concerns. The Oakland police reported an incident, a slump in October 1, 2022, in which a thief smashed a glass window and took several objects out of the store. The statistics of the Oakland police at the end of 2024 or 51%.
In the meantime, it seems that Curry apparently apparently be one to open her second sweet July café. She opened a café in the luxury regent hotel in Santa Monica. Essence registered.
The Store Closeure has stimulated a number of reactions, online and in response to queries of this news organization. Some complained of this crime or what they perceive as a lack of support in the city would have played a role in closing the business. “Your beautiful room was an urgently needed light light in the town of Oakland,” said one person.
Clothing designer Taylor Jay expressed sympathy for the situation of the business, as she said Two break-ins Forced her to close the inpatient location of her brand in Rockridge in 2024. She said that the loss of Sweet July and other nearby shops in black ownership on Broadway represent more than economic losses. “They are cultural losses and strips of Oakland from precisely the essence that has made it into such a energetic and communal city,” said Jay.
While Jay recognized that the departure of top -class companies creates perception that the city is “a lost thing”, she said that this narrative was not the entire picture. She opened the doors at her Broadway location, about a block from Sweet July, “not only as a business, but also as a pillar of resilience for the community. I believe in this city and I know that thriving here with the right support is still possible. “
Others expressed trouble that the sweet July falsely blamed the town for its suffering. A critic said that that they had operated two successful retail stores in Oakland for nearly twenty years and wrote that Oakland is “a great city with an incredible business”. This person also said: “Shame about @Sweetjuly because he beat up our city!”
In interviews with this news organization, several individuals who live or operate shops nearby saw the neighborhood as insecure, even with a close-by camp for courted people. “It's a beautiful community,” said Nanette Mervin, the owner of Cord and society Vintage furniture store on the corner of twenty third Street and Telegraph. “We had our problems, but I didn't see a rise in crime. I just have the sensation that the media shout away the people in front of Oakland. “
Isaac Pena, the deputy community director of Gallery 459, who manages several residential buildings in the area, including one next to the sweet July, said that he had not noticed anything “outside of the peculiar” crime. In fact, Pena said that he thought Sweet July spoke to his concerns by regularly publishing security personnel in business.
A sales and marketing manager who has lived in the same block as Sweet July since its opening, she never had the feeling that the business tried to integrate into the neighborhood. She has accused the business of not always running regular business hours and calculating “ridiculous” prices for some goods such as 130 US dollars for a hoodie with the sweet July logo. She added that Curry didn't seem to be a big presence and only reminded that she turned up when the shop relaxed the street so that she did a photo shoot.
Sweet July has not shared whether other factors played a role in deciding to close, including challenges that many inpatient retailers had. Journalists have also recorded how the connection of a company with a famous name does not guarantee success, reports on a over -saturated global market for stars sponsored brands and found that even Gwyneth Paltrow, the original Celebrity Lifestyle Guru, has struggled in recent years Discharges and closures of the warehouse in their Goop Company.
Others wonder whether Curry is so much on an abundance of industries in a wealth of industries. She is known for her cookbooks, TV appearances, the international smoke restaurant partnership with chef Michael Mina and her philanthropy with Steph Curry on behalf of the Oakland Schools. In the meantime, their sweet July brand includes a production company, a publisher, a quarterly magazine and A Skin care products. Haute Beauty registered in January That she might want to act something. Two days after the sweet July, the business announced that she and her sister-in-law were Sydel Curry-Lee presented in bon apetiteBalancing with the luxurious domain curry Winery.
Critics also pointed out that Curry's shops are not always successful, with her and Minas International Rowing Imperium Five locations have been closed since 2016. T.The latest closure on the MGM Grand was in Las Vegas Announced at the start of this monthOnly leave the San Francisco restaurant.
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