If you’re looking for additional ways to take your support of the Black Lives Matter movement further than an Instagram post (like we are), a really practical way to do so is by taking the thing we all do daily (shopping) local to the amazing Black-owned small businesses that make our Texas cities great. Choosing to buy from any of these businesses shows support quickly and easily.
We’ve been skimming articles and posts being shared by local resources and publications across the cities in Texas we call home, and rather than list in detail each business, we compiled a collection of helpful lists to hopefully aid you in your search, broken down by city. We’ll let the main lists do the talking, as many people have worked hard to make them (and why change what’s already great, you know?), but we wanted to do our part in a) showing our brand’s support for shopping Black and shopping local, and b) hopefully make it easier for you as you do the same. We’ll continue updating this list as we get feedback, since we know there will be many missed on the first go-round. We’ll be doing a community spotlight for Black-owned businesses within the CD community soon, so keep an eye out for that, too! See another list worth sharing here? Let us know!
Dallas:
A simple way to support Black business owners in the city is to choose to buy from a Black-owned restaurant or bar during your next take-out run, dinner outing, or happy hour. D Magazine made an awesome ongoing excel sheet of businesses that you can find here.
Paper City Magazine put together a stellar list of Black-owned businesses in the beauty, fashion, and fitness spheres in Dallas. A few names include Grit by Brit (a Common Desk alum!), By Way of Dallas, and Pressed Roots. This list has all the businesses you need to look good, feel good, and do good. And if you’ve been looking for design help, check out Black-owned boutique design agency, Scopetheory. If you’re needing full-scale marketing and PR consultation, look no further than some of our long-time members EJP Marketing Co! Another Black-owned business that’s near and dear to our hearts is a mission called Underest, which seeks to represent the underrepresented with curated events, resources, and tools.
If you’re digging for more, check out the directories live on Dallas Black Chamber, Black Biz DFW, Support Black Owned, and Black Pages sites. This list was compiled by Thrillist 🙌
Fort Worth:
We’re not gonna lie, Fort Worth is on it, and they did all the work for us. To find Black-owned restaurants and beverage companies, shops, nightlife, beauty, health, and other services, skim this super comprehensive article and get to shopping.
Austin:
To find a list of Black-owned restaurants retail shops, services, and beauty stops in Austin, head to KVUE’s long-form list here. Austin Monthly also created a great list centered around Black-owned restaurants & bars + shops & makers. Give both a read!
Houston:
Here’s a helpful list of Black-owned restaurants to support in Houston (with pictures, that make us even more ready to be open in H-town). Additionally, Greater Houston Black Chamber’s ‘Buy Black Houston’ initiative has an unreal directory that details a list of businesses of all kinds across Houston to support.
Black-owned bookstores in Texas:
Our reading list keeps on growing as more and more book recommendations are shared to help us all find more enlightenment and learn new perspectives around Black history, racism/anti-racism, and how to be better allies.
Dallas: Pan African Connection
Fort Worth: the Dock Bookshop
Austin: Black Pearl Bookstore
It’s time for all of us to do better in showing support to the Black community, and small, practical steps like where we spend our money locally go a long way. Like we mentioned above, if we missed any lists or resources that exist in any of our cities for supporting Black-owned businesses, please let us know!
