It is often thought that when a neighborhood is in the process of getting gentrified, the small manufacturing businesses are bound to close up shop and get replaced by large industrial companies or novel startup industries. However, after reading Winifred Curran’s article, “In Defense of Old Industrial Spaces” and the New York Times article, “Small Factories Thrive in Brooklyn Replacing Industrial Giants” this is not necessarily the case. As both the article and Curran stated small manufacturing companies actually thrive in gentrifying neighborhoods, especially in Brooklyn, by producing goods that appeal and satisfy the needs of those moving in.
Curran states that during her research on the extent of manufacturing present in the gentrifying Williamsburg, she was suprised to find, “many stories told by business owners of remarkable adaptability, creativity and resistance to the prevailing economic order” (Curran 875). Curran states that as more people move into the neighborhood they require certain labor intensive services and products that small manufacturing businesses can provide such as the demand for custom furniture, high-end foot products or any other products required by the growing population. She explains that the small manufacturing businesses ability to easily adapt to the needs of the current population allows them to succeed.
Similarly this article states that the large industries in Brooklyn are almost completely gone and are replaced by small, quirky businesses that cater to a specific clientele. Such small manufacturing industries include those that make wood and metal for the city’s museums and props for large advertising companies. Although, the maintenance of small manufacturing companies seems positive the displacement of other less useful to the current population small manufacturing businesses are being replaced by real estate developers. As Curran mentioned in her article, “From the Frying Pan to the Oven” the businesses in a gentrifying neighborhood are not threatened by larger industrial or international businesses but rather by the conversion of industrial space to residential space.
