Consumers seeking a unique shopping experience can head to the National Alliance of Market Developers 10th Annual “Buy Black” Shopping Expo.
The expo, which will be held December 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at First District Plaza, 3801 Market Street, offers consumers a mix of products and services from nearly 50 businesses. Businesses from Washington, D.C. to New York will be represented at this regionally targeted event.
The shopping expo features department store quality products in an environment where consumers can directly interact with the entrepreneur who has created the item and receive affordable prices. A variety of sectors will be represented including clothing and apparel, jewelry, educational products, personal care products, professional services and performing artists. The expo will also feature food vendors, entertainment and educational information.
Through the event, NAMD is working to increase the dollars that circulate within African American-owned businesses.
“The annual NAMD Buy Black event provides an opportunity for those that want to support Black-owned businesses to participate directly by identifying and patronizing these vendors and business owners on site,” says Norm Bond, NAMD chairman.
Bond refers to the expo as a grassroots approach to economic development and job creation.
The concept of supporting Black-owned businesses is being touted at a time when African-American purchasing power is growing. A report released by Nielsen and the National Newspapers Publishers Association indicates the collective buying power of the African-American population is projected to be at $1.1 trillion by 2015.
Nationwide, Black consumers spend billions of dollars per year. However, Bond cited statistics indicating that 95 percent of these dollars are spent with non-Black owned businesses.
“More people are recognizing the need to get these Black dollars turning over within businesses. We need to move the needle,” says Bond.
“As the Black unemployment rate has continued to climb, I think people are realizing that there’s not going to be any specific program coming out from the federal level, the state level or the local level to drive those numbers down so more people are starting to realize that we are going to have to do this ourselves — we are going to have to create our own jobs.”
Tables for vendors are still available for the upcoming expo. Admission to the expo is free. For information, visit www.namdphiladelphia.com.
