Supporting Black Owned

My previous post on Chris Rock's movie prompted a film maker to leave the link to their you tube video which speaks to the takeover of the black owned beauty supply stores by the Asians. For the sake of anonymity a friend wrote the following on shopping in black owned stores/beauty supply stores etc.

Part of my reason for going natural was to stop with all the products already.  Weaves, braids, products, etc etc..  It was insane.  Now my routine is simple and I use just a few things here and there on my face, body and hair.  I love it.  But I have to say, going to black owned businesses for me can be a trying experience.  Who wants to walk into a store where the person who is supposed to be helping you out treats you so badly, refuses to answer questions and generally makes your shopping trip a nightmare?  Not I.  I support black owned businesses where I get good customer services.  Shean'More is an online shop owned by a black woman.  I go there for my shea butter and africa black soap and direct my friends and family to her as well.  I have talked to her a couple of times and she is respectful and helpful and offers tips and suggestions.  I don't know her, have never met her but I like her and I like shopping from her.  I can't say that for many black owned businesses and that really saddens me.  I would love to give my few dollars to black owned stores and business but honey...... not when I get an attitude- laden, gum chewing, deep sighing when I ask a question, sister at the counter or on the phone.  Sorry....no can't do.

Well for me, I would always attempt to go to the black owned shops but they always seem to not have the stocks shelved, they wouldn't have the product I went looking for, or the prices were more expensive. I'm all for supporting my own, but I am also for getting what I'm looking for and not what I have to settle for. So after a few trips to the black owned shops and coming back empty handed they were the last store that I would think of when it was time to go pick up the latest products. Now when I headed into Newark or Brooklyn all I saw were Asian owned stores and of the course the shelfs were overflowing and prices were cheaper. Whats a girl to do???!?!?


So what do you think? Now that you are natural your trips to the beauty supply store are far and few in between. However when you were making frequent trips what was your preference of stores? How did you get treated? Did you go back? Did you see anything that turned you off from either?