Six Black-owned businesses you should know, and details on nearly 200 in the Triangle
READ MORE
Buying Black
From a bake shop, to a craft beer distributor — and America’s second-oldest bank. The N&O highlights six African American businesses you should know, from restaurants to the professional sector. Each represent the vibrant Black business scene in the Triangle.
Expand All
Despite inequitable barriers to success, Black-owned businesses in the Triangle are burgeoning.
Limited access to a historically exclusive financial system sometimes bridles Black entrepreneurship. While roughly 14% of the U.S. population is African American, only 2% of the country’s businesses are Black-owned.
But North Carolina features prominently among the most hospitable locations in the country for Black business owners. The state ranked sixth nationwide in 2022 for fostering Black entrepreneurship, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies, as compiled by the small-business research website Merchant Maverick.
The state’s blossoming Black business scene is evidenced by a vibrant melange of Black-owned companies and restaurants in the Triangle. To highlight the accomplishments of African Americans in our community, The News & Observer set out to compile a comprehensive compendium of Black-owned businesses.
The searchable database features nearly 200 restaurants and businesses from the professional sector, retail, health care and more. It will continue to update.
“There are so many local, Black-owned businesses that are doing great,” said Johnny Hackett Jr., owner of Raleigh’s Black Friday Market.
The pandemic disproportionately shuttered Black-owned businesses. In its early months, more than 40% of Black business owners reported temporary closures. Many of them never recovered.
But in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, renewed community interest in supporting African American entrepreneurship birthed or bolstered several organizations.
The N&O selected six of these Black-owned businesses and restaurants to feature as a snapshot of the diversity in our area. Some are new and growing. Others have been pillars of the Black business scene for decades. All of them are working to improve the climate for other Black businesses.
“A lot of industries still aren’t welcoming to people of color,” said Jamel Lynch, owner of Durham’s Harlem Beer Distributing. “There are still diversity problems that we’re trying to overcome.”
The N&O’s “Six Black-owned Businesses You Should Know” represents an inkling of the variety available in the Triangle. Read on to learn more.
News & Observer readers: Click here for Part One.
Durham Herald-Sun readers: Click here for Part One.
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Six Black-owned businesses you should know, and details on nearly 200 in the Triangle."
