Buunni Coffee Shop has closed. The Fieldston Community has gone into mourning.
To the average person, Riverdale Avenue doesn’t look like much. But to the average Fieldston student, it is Heaven on Earth. After hours of facts and figures, bizarre encounters, and woke frenzies that define a morning at Fieldston, we flock out through the gates and into culinary Narnia. Miles away from the city’s famous food hubs, we enter a neighborhood with all of New York’s essentials–bagel shops, pizzerias, delis, and cafes–but with none of the crowds. No one knows the secret to Riverdale’s food scene, but if there’s anyone who does, it’s the people who live and breathe Buunni Coffee.
Buunni Coffee was founded by husband and wife Elias and Sarina Prabasi in 2011 and has been a local sensation ever since. Sarina fell in love with coffee when she first visited Ethiopia in 1997. As an adult, non-profit work brought her back and forth to Ethiopia, until she decided to move to Addis Abbaba, the capital. It is there that she found Ethiopian Macchiato, a tastier version of a latte, and also her now-husband and Buunni cofounder, Elias. An Addis Abbaba native, Elias was already a successful entrepreneur who had launched a restaurant, a taxi service and a pharmaceutical distribution service. An avid coffee drinker himself, “Elias likes his coffee black, strong and piping hot!” according to Buunni’s website.
Elias and Sarina moved to New York in 2011 and established their first independent cafe in Washington Heights. Soon after, they opened coffee shops in the George Washington Bridge Terminal, Inwood, and Riverdale.
The coffee shop has a special place in the heart of many Fieldston students. Sophia Gutierrez, Form IV student, can always be seen with a cappuccino in hand. She describes coffee as the “ambrosia of the capitalist and the creative alike,…a requisite of socialization, the product of a colossal agricultural process steeped in colonialist history and the most widely consumed psychoactive drug in the world.” It is an oasis amidst the concrete jungle, providing us with the fuel we need to endure our long and busy days. How else could the city that never sleeps stay awake all night? And most importantly, it tastes good.
Buunni Coffee’s Riverdale location epitomized the New York coffee shop. “We broke the first rule of retail leasing: Don’t fall in love with the space,” wrote cofounder Sarina Prabasi. “Although we knew it would require renovation, we were charmed by the ample natural sunlight, the high ceilings, and the possibility of an upstairs at 3702 Riverdale Ave.”
They thus began the grueling process of leasing and renovating the space. Because of a miscommunication with the landlord, they were unable to proceed with construction until further notice. To be safe, they paid the rent anyway, and spent a lot of money on attorneys to ensure they wouldn’t lose the lease. They struggled with a dearth of legal protection and resources–typical of small business tenets in an industry increasingly dominated by commercial tycoons and landlords.
After 15 months paying rent, they finally opened in 2018. The finished product was a sight to behold. Locals were delighted with what they had done with the space, whose modern yet cozy and intellectual feel gave it a distinctly bohemian character. “Independent coffee shops like Buunni stand in a welcome stark contrast to the dull uniformity and bad coffee of consumer market-driven darlings such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts,” says Gutierrez.
It began to develop a unique character, hosting monthly banjo concerts and covering its walls with a rotation of local artwork. In keeping with a tradition of coffee house activism, Buunni hosted postcard writing sessions for the ACLU, and “coffee with the candidate” with now state Senator Alessandra Biaggi and US Representative Jamaal Bowman, among others.
Their commitment to ethics is also reflected in the coffee itself. Buunni serves “simple, delicious, natural coffee, allowing the unique flavors of each type of single-origin bean to shine through,” according to their website. All of their coffee comes from small-holder farms and farmers cooperatives who are committed to organic and fairly traded coffee. Above all, their coffee is top-notch. They roast their coffee once a week in small batches, allowing them to customize each roast to amplify the flavor of each coffee bean. “Small quantity, big quality!” they say.
It wouldn’t be a day at Fieldston without seeing lines of students returning to class with their matching Buunni coffee cups. “Buunni was a staple at Fieldston,” said coffee fanatic Rex Hector (Form IV).
Not only was Buunni the closest café to school, but also the perfect getaway. Gutierrez describes how Buunni provided “a comfortable work environment, a refuge when skipping assembly, and much needed access to caffeine all hours of the day.” When Fieldston students were hyper-stressed and exhausted, Buunni was the place to recharge. It attracted a wide range of Fieldston students, from coffee lovers like Hector to people like Emily Baglio (Form IV) who craved their diverse pastry selection.
Of course, Buunni has always welcomed Fieldston students with open arms. In the interview, Hector revealed his pro tip: “buy a mug from there and they’ll give you a free coffee,” he said. It is these moments that made Buunni and Fieldston the perfect match.
Like so many small businesses, the pandemic hit the Riverdale location hard. The Riverdale location was the last of their stores to reopen. Despite their loyal customer base, revenue plummeted, and the lack of business from Fieldston students most likely contributed to it.
Though the owners made a deal with their landlord to reduce the rent, it was set to expire at the end of January. Buunni, however, did not go down without a fight. Owner Sarina Prabasi published a point-of-view piece in the Riverdale Press lobbying for S.83, a commercial vacancy bill spearheaded by state Senator Brad Hoylman.
“The bill proposes a tax on landlords who leave their street-level storefronts vacant for more than six months. It will encourage dynamism in neighborhoods, and a diverse array of services that residents need and want,” wrote Prabasi. Mino Lora, a prospective city council candidate, organized a rally outside of Buunni’s Riverdale location in support of the bill. “‘It’s an emotional moment when a small business that is immigrant-owned, that is family-owned, that is owned by a team of a husband and a wife — that hits close to home for me. We must take action. And we are taking action, Bronx, because this is our Bronx, and look at us all here right now doing it,’ said Lora at the rally. However, even that wasn’t enough. When the deal with their landlord came to end, so did 3702 Riverdale Avenue.
Buunni’s Riverdale location is just one of 240,000 businesses that closed during the pandemic. Though it may seem impossible to find a silver lining in this situation, Riverdale has not lost hope. I spoke with the managers of Yo Burger and Tiny’s Diner and an employee at Salvatore’s Of Soho to learn how their businesses have been doing during the pandemic. The people I interviewed at Sal’s and Yo Burger both expressed that their stores have been very quiet, with the manager of Yo Burger adding that they are only receiving half of their usual business.
Both of their struggles have been exacerbated by a lack of Fieldston students and faculty. The consumer purchasing power of Fieldston students and faculty in the neighborhood really is a matter of life and death. Both restaurants have an account with the school, and Yo Burger would typically receive about a quarter of their business from Fieldston. During the pandemic, Yo Burger, Sal’s, and Tiny’s have all relied heavily on pick up and delivery. Though this wasn’t enough for Buunni, loyal customers of Yo Burger, Sal’s, and Tiny’s have managed to keep them above water. We are all devastated to see Buunni go but as restaurants slowly begin to reopen indoor dining, things are finally starting to look up.
A well written deep dive into what on the surface was just a closed store. The back story of the owners and their history really added depth to the reader’s understanding of thus very human story.