Stepping into The Anarchist is far different than your usual coffee shop in Toronto, but it’s worth the visit. According to the café’s Instagram, The Anarchist is “an anti-capitalist cafe, shop and radical community space on stolen land at 190 Jarvis St.”
Alongside exceptional coffee, the café offers radical books, totes, clothing, and jewelry that promote left-wing views.
Before entering the cafe, visitors are greeted with the smell of freshly brewed coffee along with a number of graffiti murals that depict the resistance of anti-colonialism that the café works to implement.
The Anarchist uses its shop as a hub for activists, artists, and community members to help spark conversations that will end capitalism and improve the world’s economic system.
Gabriel Sims-Fewer is the owner and sole worker at the café. Since becoming a coffee shop owner, Sims-Fewer has dealt with the inevitable challenges of starting a business in this economy and creating a café that promotes anti-capitalism.
Since opening two years ago, the café has gained a lot of attention, but not all has been positive.
A lot of this reaction has been backlash from social media for its irony of creating an anti-capitalist café while feeding into capitalism by selling merchandise at a high price.
TikTok creator Dag Larsen had intensely critiqued the café.
“Charging $5 for coffee that costs 30 cents to make. That is capitalism,” Larsen said. “Don’t f*cking lie and say you’re for the people. $5 cappuccinos are not for the people.”
In a statement posted on the cafe’s website, Sims-Fewer speaks more about the controversy that arose in selling coffee at a high price at his anti-capitalist café.
“I hate how everything in specialty coffee is so inaccessible to working class people, and inhospitable to everyone but the white upper middle class. That’s why I started doing “pay what you can” drip coffee, which loses me money, but is subsidised by the more expensive drinks,” Sims-Fewer said. “That’s also why I continue to scrutinize my prices and look for opportunities to lower them … Like everything else about the cafe/shop, the prices are the starting point of a work in progress, not what I WANT them to be.”
In spite of the controversy, many people believe that the café’s sudden threat of closure that took place over a year ago happened because of its high prices and Sims-Fewers “pay what you can” drip coffee approach.
However, The Anarchist announced via Instagram that they won’t be shutting down due to a generous donation of publicity and attention from the Christian Conservatives of Texas and Florida.
Now that the café is here to stay, it’s not just serving coffee. The Anarchist continues to host a range of events and workshops targeted at teaching and strengthening the community. Some recent events include letter writing for York Centre 4 Palestine, a comedy show, an open mic and many more!
So, should you check out this café? Well, if you want coffee complemented by a striking conversation about anti-capitalism, then The Anarchist might be right for you.