BOSTON (AP) – Black-owned businesses are enjoying a surge in support amid the national reckoning on racism sparked by George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis. From a Boston bike shop to a Los Angeles bakery and a Virginia watchmaker, Black entrepreneurs are reporting brisk sales. Many say they’ve been included in lists of Black-owned businesses circulating on social media, boosting their exposure. But the increased demand hasn’t been without growing pains for some. Black-owned bookshops in Boston and elsewhere have received backlash as they’ve struggled to keep up with demand. At the same time, Black owners hope the sales boom isn’t a passing fad but leads to lasting change.
Black businesses see increased sales amid racial reckoning
Black owners hope the sales boom isn’t a passing fad
In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020, photograph, Mahdi Hashemian, of Cambridge, Mass., left, watches as his daughter Zeynab climbs onto her first bicycle as technician Dell Wilkerson Jr. looks on at Spokehouse Bikes in the Upham’s Corner neighborhood of Boston. Hashemian decided to buy his daughter’s bike at the store to support the Black-owned business, which was robbed and vandalized earlier in the month. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)