After BLM Controversy Last Year, Park Slope Butcher Reopens – Patch

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN A Park Slope butcher shop forced to close last year after employees staged a walkout over the removal of signs supporting Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ movements recently reopened.

Fleisher's, a sustainable butcher shop, welcomed customers into its Fifth Avenue outpost in Park Slope for the first time in about eight months this weekend, the company announced.

All four of the butcher shop's locations including two others in Manhattan closed their doors last summer after three dozen workers walked out when the CEO took down the aforementioned signs at the behest of an investor, Patch reported, noting that the CEO later put the signs back up, but not before the mass walkouts.

"I don't feel safe coming into work," Ajani Thompson, the only Black employee at the Park Slope shop, told Forbes at the time, which was the first outlet to report the news.

Thomson added that John Adams, who was Fleisher's newly-minted CEO at the time, missed an opportunity to earn the trust of employees.

"You were trying to get our trust, and I don't feel comfortable here," Thomson told the outlet, echoing a sentiment felt by many of Fleisher's staff at the time, at least half of whom reportedly identified as BIPOC, nonbinary, or queer.

Adams told Eater that the company doesn't plan on posting any public statements about the incident (and has been reportedly deleting negative comments on Instagram posts announcing its reopening), and has instead decided to not display any signage in its windows going forward.

"It's not appropriate for our company," Adams told the outlet. "If I'm really going to be fair and balanced, that means I will let all signs up in the window. And we can't do that."

Instead, Adams said that he plans to provide more support for employees, like donating food to charities of their choice, and paying higher wages (before he took over the company wasn't paying its employees enough, he acknowledged in an interview with Eater).

Robert Rosania, who reportedly directed Adams to take down signs, is still an investor at the company, though he is no longer the majority investor, the CEO told Eater.

Fleisher's is now employing 15 to 20 staffers, one-third of whom worked at the butcher in the past.

The shop's other three stores remain closed, according to the butcher's website, but the company said it is slowly reopening in the region.

Patch editor Anna Quinn contributed to this report.

Related Article: Park Slope Shop Closes After Staff Walkout Over BLM Sign Removal

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After BLM Controversy Last Year, Park Slope Butcher Reopens - Patch

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