Ishena Robinson
Google
I don’t know if this store is Black-owned, but if you are Black I do not recommend you shop here.
I lived in Fort Greene for 3 years, and recently moved away and I’m now doing this review because the box of amazing Japanese incense sticks I bought at this store a couple of years ago is now almost finished—and I was reminded of my experience while purchasing it in the store.
It was around the holidays, not 2024, so perhaps 2023. I walked in. There was a Black man at the check out desk. He did not acknowledge me at all. Me and him were the ONLY people in the store. I browsed and ultimately bought three different incense sets, almost out of defiance, to show him I was worthy of being a patron of the store and to be treated as such. Didn’t matter. He still did not say a word to me during the entire transaction as he rang me up. I felt invisible and unwelcome in that space.
For the rest of my time in Fort Greene, I never stepped foot back in that store, but every time I walked by it to and from my home, I remembered my experience shopping in there. And remembered how it made me feel.
I would not recommend any Black person spend their money at this store, despite the beautiful collection of goods it offers. There are so many other stores with beautiful home goods in NYC, owned and operated by people of various races, and they greet you with “hello” and a smile and a “thank you” when you spend your money. I appreciate that appreciation and respect for me as a customer and as a human.