Throughout my neighborhood, I was searching for the perfect sign that can represent the entire borough of Queens. However, I started to notice that some of the signs were similar to the ones in Manhattan. For instance, on Jamaica Avenue, the epicenter of Southside Queens is predominantly African-Americans/Caribbean-American and most of the store’s signs were made of mostly old-fashioned san serif fonts and used warm colors to make the customer feel comfortable and eager to shop. Most recently, there is a new establishment that has been added to Jamaica Avenue, Starbucks. With Starbucks, their signs are made with serif fonts, white as the font color, and the two-tailed mermaid logo. These three essentials help Starbucks get customers and possibly new customers as well.
However, Starbucks doesn’t represent the South Side of Queens, and this is just a prime example of a bigger issue at hand, gentrification. These corporations are buying cheap property and making their profit by raising their prices on their product, which will increase the price of other property in that area. These corporations only appeal to the upper middle class, which can be a problem for people that are of a low-income household. This can also cause the small business to shut down and lose the essence of the original neighborhood and the culture. Even though it’s only one store, it can have a big impact in the future; there are still some areas on the Ave that still preserve the culture.
