In The Black is a marketplace created to give Black-owned businesses access to affordable retail space. It carries clothing, accessories, lifestyle goods and beauty products from local Black entrepreneurs, all under one roof.
The marketplace is run by the San Francisco Housing Development Corporation (SFHDC), a nonprofit that works toward financial stability for African Americans through affordable housing and economic empowerment. It opened in December 2022 with about twenty entrepreneurs. Businesses take part through long-term subleases, pop-ups, event activations and online sales, so what is on the racks and shelves changes over time.
The store sits in a converted check-cashing building, on a street where urban renewal in the 1950s displaced thousands of Black families and businesses. In The Black is part of bringing Black-owned businesses back to the Fillmore, with community-driven economic development as the goal and the hope of supporting hundreds of Black-owned businesses over the next decade.
You can also shop the marketplace online at intheblackshop.com.
