KINGSTON- A hip new boutique/co-working space/bookstore/artisanal butcher shop is coming under fire by critics who accuse it of displaying bias against local residents.
The furor erupted this weekend when Jessica Shultis, a local resident, posted an image of a sign displayed in the window of the uptown business ShedWolf that read: “LOCALS USE THE SIDE DOOR” with the hashtags #gentrification #citiotsgohome #dontmovetokingstonnow #segregation.
“This just makes what was implicit explicit— these types of businesses were always snooty about [people who are from here] patronizing their establishments, and now they’re just coming out and saying it,” said Shultis in a phone interview, the sound of packing tape being unspooled audible in the background, as she boxed up the contents of a one-bedroom apartment in Kingston’s Rondout district that had formerly cost $950/mo with utilities that had been raised this year to $1400/mo plus utilities.
Caleb McCallister, chief happiness engineer for ShedWolf, with locations in San Francisco, Brooklyn, Austin, and Jackson Hole, WY, said the business’s policies are a far cry from segregation. “We don’t like that word,” said McCallister. “We prefer guest segmentation for maximum comfort and personal empowerment.”
Additional features at ShedWolf that apply only to persons who have lived in Kingston for more than four years include: separate restrooms and drinking fountains, separate lines leading to touchless payment systems to minimize risk of staff contact with natives, temperature checks at the door, a full-body inspection for deer ticks, and an odor absorbing spritz intended to minimize offensive smells often carried by locals, including Dunkin Donuts coffee breath, cigarettes, petroleum residue from using a primitive gasoline pump rather that electric charging station, and that inchoate but discernible whiff of failure.