Land Park fair trade store to close after nearly 26 years of business in Sacramento
A Sacramento store that showcases and sells art from around the world is closing after more than 25 years of business.
Zanzibar Fair Trade announced on social media Monday it will be closing its store at 1315 Broadway in Land Park following an upcoming liquidation sale.
“Zanzibar has been our privilege, our honor, and our life’s work to provide our clientele all these wonderful works of art and the stories behind them,” the store wrote in an Instagram post.
The store’s owners said the closing was because of market factors, such as people buying more things online.
The announcement came nearly three months after the nearby Walgreens closed two blocks east on Broadway. Several other business fronts, including Bank of America, Jamba Juice and Starbucks, have shuttered along the popular thoroughfare in the shadow of the landmark Tower Theatre.
According to its website, Zanzibar hand-selected and sold handmade art from more than 120 countries. The store was subjected to a robbery in October 2023 in which a man was accused of taking more than $100,000 worth of rare antiques.
The store will be closed this week before reopening on Saturday when it starts selling items at a 50% discount when bought with cash. The store said it was planning to celebrate its 26th anniversary next month.
“Essentially, we are closing, not only because of a significant reduction in overall sales for the past few years, but a dramatic change in the way in which people shop,” Zanzibar co-owner Josh Varner said. “Essentially, people are buying everything online these days, going to Amazon or going to major corporate retailers, and they are not spending their money in small businesses such as ourselves.”
Varner said he and his partner, Scott Farrell, started the business nearly 26 years ago. They built its website in 1999 and opened a brick-and-mortar store on Capitol Avenue in May 2002 before moving to the Broadway location.
“We traveled around the world, working with cooperatives, women’s groups and individual artisans from over 100 countries to bring back traditional handicraft and folk art, mineral and crystal specimens, jewelry and many other things, all acquired under fair trade practices and principles,” Varner said.
Varner said the store was robbed twice in 2023, with the two robberies amounting to $170,000 to $190,000 in merchandise. The store’s insurance policy could not make up for the financial loss from the robberies, Varner said, and filing a claim likely would have likely led to the store’s insolvency.
“If the (insurance) company would pay out even 20% of the value ... we would be branded a high-risk client and dropped entirely from insurance coverage,” Varner said. “And no other company in the country would be willing to open another policy for us.”
Varner said the store’s lease runs through July and they will try to sell the store’s entire inventory and fixtures.
“Even though we will be gone,” Varner said, “I think it’s more important than ever for people to be aware that not only what they spend, but how they spend it, impacts their local communities, and that it’s vital to continue supporting small local businesses rather than continuously throwing your money at corporations and large commercial ventures that truly don’t care about you or your money, or where you spend it.”
This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM.
