Last week, Rachel Nieves was in her car, eyes swollen from crying when she turned on her phone camera. The small business owner, who is based in Brooklyn, was overwhelmed by her landlord’s notice of an impending rent hike and knew that a competing business would move in next door to her own.
“Today, I just got word that I might not be able to stay in the same lease because of rent increase, which is the reality for so many people,” she says in the video, holding back tears. “But not only that, right next door to me they’re putting a coffee shop. And I don’t know if I sound so stupid, crying and complaining. But it just feels like you just can’t win. The small people can’t win.”
Her TikTok has since reeled in over 7.3 million views and tens of thousands of comments — including one from Joe Jonas.
“You are awesome. I’m coming to support,” he wrote.
Speaking to TODAY.com, Nieves says that she never expected to reach so many people or that, within hours, thousands would rally around her coffee shop in a fight for a small business like hers.
“The amount of tears and hugs and dancing in the streets that I’ve seen in the past five days let me know that the culture here is very much alive,” Nieves says. “There are people saying, ‘It feels like summertime in New York. It feels like a Puerto Rican summer.’”
A coffee shop brewed from a strong connection and mutual dream
The 34-year-old business owner and her romantic partner, Taylor Nawrocki, opened Buddies at the height of the pandemic in late 2020. The couple, who met on Instagram, had no experience in the coffee industry — Nieves previously worked in car sales — but they shared a deep love for roasted beans and the craft of brewing.
“Taylor and I were so uncertain about everything. It wasn’t this set plan. We didn’t know it would work,” she explains. “I really spent all my money on just this dream that was initially just an idea. And then it grew into a dream.”
They started with a coffee cart and a vision — a hub rooted in Puerto Rican culture, which Nieves describes as universal and welcoming. They’d call their shop “Buddies,” a name Nieves says reflects what they wanted for their customers, a destination for the person who explains, “I’m gonna go meet up with my buddies.”
Eventually, the shop moved into a small brick-and-mortar space in Williamsburg, a neighborhood that was once filled with a vibrant Puerto Rican community but has since become increasingly unrecognizable due to gentrification. As longtime residents and businesses moved out, Nieves says she was proud that Buddies became a mainstay for the community left behind, with Puerto Rican culture proudly displayed in the window, pumping through the shop’s speakers and around the store.
“I wave our flag high — it’s hanging in the window, it’s painted on our glass. We play salsa music. We serve coquito lattes. It’s a little sliver of letting people in the community know, ‘I might be newer, but I’m here for you,’” Nieves says.
A heartwrenching blow
Last week, things changed for Nieves when her partner called her while she was on her commute to the shop. Their landlord had given him a notice: Buddies’ rent would increase and he intended to rent out the space next door to a competing coffee shop that could afford the price increase. The news sent Nieves into a spiral of uncertainty. Too upset to take in placations from well-meaning friends and family, she pulled over in her car and turned to TikTok.
“I think I just wanted to let go of pain and frustration,” she says. “I felt like I lost everything in that moment.”
Nieves’ post spread rapidly and widely, and support from all over poured in. Within days, customers from Texas, Florida, and Philadelphia had arrived to support the shop.
“I had people knocking on my door, saying, ‘We came from Texas, we’ll be here tomorrow.’ And I thought, ‘Why me? Why do I deserve this kind of support?’” she recalls.
Jonas made good on his comment and showed up to lend support.
“He was just sitting at our tables, drinking coffee with his friends, and he told me, ‘Your video really moved me. But also, your coffee is actually really good.’”
What’s next for Buddies?
Nieves says that since her viral post, she and Nawrocki have seen the profound effects that community can have in ensuring that “the small people” win. But despite their current popularity, the couple have decided to move locations — though they don’t know where yet.
“Even if (our landlord) were to say, ‘We won’t raise the rent, we won’t put another coffee shop next door,’ they already showed me they don’t value me,” she says. “And there’s no way I would want to be in business with someone like that.”
In spite of this, the support from the Williamsburg community and beyond has allowed Buddies to keep hanging on.
