Black Owned Grocery Stores in the Detroit Area
Story by Biba Adams
Food is more than sustenance—it is an expression of culture, heritage, and creativity. In Detroit, our restaurant scene is thriving, however, we are still reconciling with our past history as a food desert.
For many years, Detroiters had limited access to healthy and nutritious food due to the lack of major grocery store chains. While the city did have some small grocery stores--they were not always well-stocked, nor was the food always consistently fresh. And none were Black-owned.
But, it wasn't always this way.
Official Detroit Historian Jamon Jordan said that one of the city's first Black-owned grocery stores was owned by a man named William Wade whose small store, established in the 1850s, was an important part of the city's African American community. Wade was also a stationmaster on the Underground Railroad. He also hid people who escaped from slavery in his home, until they could make their way to Canada.
Jordan explains that grocery stores would become instrumental in the community as thousands of Black southerners would relocate to Detroit to pursue jobs in the automobile industry. "They come mainly to the Lower East Side, many to Conant Gardens, as well as the Linwood area and the 8 Mile and Wyoming area. But, the highest concentration of African Americans is in Black Bottom. And so they begin starting businesses because now is African Americans are making a living wage."
One of those business owners would be Berry Gordy, Sr. and Bertha Gordon Berry. They opened the Booker T. Washington grocery store. Jordan says that the store becomes very important to the Black Bottom/Paradise Valley community, because not only do they sell groceries, they do what we do today. They deliver groceries, "They would be like Instacart today, so they were way ahead of their time." The innovation would continue in that family as their son, Berry Gordy, Jr. would found Motown Records.
Today, there are several exciting new Black-owned grocery stores in Detroit. One of the first of the new offerings was Neighborhood Grocery which was opened in 2023 with the mission to help Detroiters be healthier. Founder Raphael Wright relied on crowdfunding, grant opportunities, and his own life savings to open the store and inclusion, health and education are a part of his mission.
Linwood Fresh Market is another new offering founded by Sonya Greene. The nurse's redevelopment project, called The Shift, features a fresh food market, barbershop, hair salon, four-unit newly renovated apartment complex and nonprofit office space.
"This development is about economic empowerment," Greene says, according to her website..The market offers fresh produce, healthy ready-made meals and Michigan-made grocery products. It will also feature an exterior walk-up counter where customers can order smoothies and juices.
Just this year, Detroit People's Food Co-Op opened to great fanfare. The Detroit People’s Food Co-Op is a Black-led and community-owned grocery cooperative. The co-op’s purpose is to provide improved access to healthy food and food education to Detroit residents. Meeting the needs of the community is achieved through the democratic control of the co-op by its member/owners.
The Detroit People's Food Co-Op offers a full line of groceries including fresh produce from the farm owned by Malik Yakini--the co-op's founder.
DPFC offers educational materials and classes to help our community learn more about nutrition, cooking, healthy living, sustainability, community development and more. They also have a kitchen with freshly prepared meals.
Detroit's food resurgence with grocery stores and community farms is reframing the city's history as a food desert and is helping to heal the city one person at a time.
You May Also Like
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is observed during the month of May. We…
Summer means the return of farmers markets in metro Detroit, and there aren’t many better…
