Denver businesses to close in support of general strike

DENVER — Businesses throughout Denver are closing Friday in solidarity with a one-day general strike organized as a protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement.

The closure announcements on social media from Denver businesses like Good Bones coffee shop, Sắp Sửa and Rowdy Poppy came in response to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two Minneapolis residents shot and killed by federal agents earlier this month.

Tens of thousands of Minneapolis marched against ICE and Border Patrol Friday, Jan. 23. Businesses in the Twin Cities, with the support of some labor unions, closed in support. Since then, activists across the country, including in Denver, have called for similar actions on a national scale. 

National Shutdown, an group of activist and organizers, is calling for “no work, no school, no shopping and to stop funding ICE” on Jan. 30. 

“It’s going to take big moves like [closing], and it’s going to get uncomfortable and it’s going to get scary even, but it’s important that we do that,” said Carson Allen, co-owner of Good Bones, a coffee shop that went viral earlier this month for its latte that had some (NSFW) words for ICE. 

Since the drink’s debut, Allen says the coffee shop has lines out the door, often selling out of the iced latte before the end of the day. A portion of the proceeds goes to Casa De Paz, a nonprofit that provides temporary support for people released from the ICE detention center in Aurora. 

“We never had any hesitation about closing down,” Allen said. “It’s not about us, and I don’t think our coffee drink is going to make ICE go away, but everybody being as loud as they can be with their ideas is going to help combat this regime.”

Rowdy Poppy, a floral shop and micro-farm in Denver, is also participating in the strike. Over the past week, Kim Zimmerman, the shop’s owner, heard rumblings on social media of a nationwide effort to protest ICE.

Zimmerman decided Wednesday to join the strike in solidarity with Minnesota. 

“There’s a lot of momentum behind the protests right now and even though our platform is still very small, we’re a small business, and we have a platform to take this stand publicly,” Zimmerman said. 

Zimmerman acknowledges that the shutdown might frustrate customers and interrupt business, but was sure that closing was the right decision. Zimmerman is also paying employees who would’ve worked Friday, giving them an option to protest if they wanted to.  

Chefs Ni and Anna Nguyen of nationally acclaimed Vietnamese restaurant Sắp Sửa are doing something similar — shutting down business and making sure their employees are paid. 

The Nguyens are distributing estimated tips from Friday night’s dinner out of their own pocket “so that the staff isn’t hurt financially by what we want to do politically,” said Anna Nguyen. 

For them, closing is about setting an example of running a business without a capitalist mindset. Ni Nguyen wants to run the restaurant through a more community-focused approach, with a “little sprinkle of socialism,” he says. 

“By stopping our country’s economy, we can create pressure for change, showing the government that we, the people, the laborers, hold the power when we decide to close things down and stop things from moving as usual,” Ni Nguyen said. 

He admits that closing Sắp Sửa for one day isn’t going to fundamentally change the world, but says that if it can change one person’s mind, it’ll be worth it. 

For folks who have reservations at the restaurant, Ni and Anna Nguyen already sent out emails to reschedule their dinners and comp the meals.

So far, Anna says that out of the 110 emails that they’ve sent out, everyone was “overwhelmingly supportive,” and no one was angry. In fact, the majority of reservations still want to pay for their meals. 

“I hope that this might be encouraging to other business owners who are thinking, ‘Should I participate? Will my guests be upset?’” said Anna Nguyen.

“The community right now is so hungry for businesses with a backbone who will stand up and say something for what’s right,” said Ni Nguyen. “They’ll come and give so much more back because this is community building.”