Kris Garrand gauges the current disparity in the economy by the growing price gap of one product: beer.
Garrand mans the counter at Stinky Bklyn, a gourmet food shop in Cobble Hill that sells artisanal cheeses alongside microbrews and Italian hams.
At Stinky Bklyn bottles of craft ale can cost as much as $18 and they’re moving briskly. In contrast, Garrand sees $1 specials on tallboys of Bud Light in his neighborhood in Bushwick. “That’s the beer you drink to forget about the low number on the ATM receipt,” he says.
Garrand has felt the sharp edge of the recession. After graduating with a degree in agriculture in 2010, he first found a job unloading bales of hay and was then briefly unemployed. He’s happy to have steady work with an hourly wage, even if he can’t afford Cobble Hill.
Still, from the vantage point of Stinky Bklyn’s cheese counter, the economy seems to be rebounding. “People come in and spend hundreds of dollars on cheese,” says Garrand. “But I walk just a couple of blocks away and a seed of doubt grows in my mind. Is everything as good as it seems, even in Brooklyn?”
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