‘A shift has occurred.’ How Oak Park’s diverse business community is thriving despite COVID
After 13 years running an in-home care business, Gabby McDaniel was ready for a career change.
She wanted to remain in the health and wellness industry, but in a different way — selling crystals in a high-poverty Black neighborhood.
She looked at spaces in Meadowview, where she grew up, but nothing felt right. Then she found the perfect spot — in a new building along Oak Park’s thriving Broadway corridor.
“I wanted to bring something back that can kind of keep people grounded,” McDaniel, 31, said. “A lot of people come in, even if they don’t purchase anything, I like for them to come in and talk with me. We all need that outlet and I feel like we’re missing that in the Black community. We don’t have that outlet to just come in and sit and talk with someone and reset your energy.”
Her shop, The Good Soul, is one of six Black-owned businesses that have opened or plan to open along the Broadway corridor during the coronavirus pandemic. An additional three businesses have also opened along the strip, between Alhambra Boulevard and 37th Street.
The new businesses are enhancing a flourishing business community. On any given weekend, lines stretch down the block at Fixins Soul Kitchen and Faria Bakery. Shoppers stroll down the street window shopping, licking vegan ice cream cones from the new Conscious Creamery. All chairs at the World Class Faders barber shop are often taken, even on weekdays.
The neighborhood has been on guard against gentrification, especially during the pandemic, which has sparked a surge of Bay Area home buyers flooding the region. So far the new businesses have been easing some of those fears. So has a community agreement regarding the new $1 billion medical technology hub, UC Davis’ Aggie Square.
“For the most part, it makes me happy that we have some reflection of what the neighborhood used to be,” said L. Gracie Phillips, an Oak Park Neighborhood Association board member who frequently raises gentrification concerns. “It does seem like a shift has occurred.”
On a recent weekday, Imani Morgan sat behind the counter of her plant shop Cataphylls sporting a white T-shirt that read “ALL MY FRIENDS ARE HOUSEPLANTS.” Beyonce’s power anthem “Run the World (Girls)“ played in the background.
Morgan, who is Black, loves being part of a corridor with a growing number of Black-owned businesses, she said.
“I think it’s important to make that a priority in renting out buildings,” said Morgan, 28, whose shop is next to McDaniel’s. “I felt supported, I felt welcomed.”
Morgan already has regulars. Sometimes when she opens at noon, there’s a line formed outside the door of people who want to buy a plant she posted on Instagram.
“Plants are just popular right now so we had a good bit of hype,” Morgan said. “People were stuck in the house (during the pandemic). People needed something to do. People needed something to nurture. Plants tend to be calming. They help with mindfulness, they help with anxiety.”
Yasou Foreman, who is Black and from the Bay Area, opened 1 Up Retro Clothing in April next to Morgan’s shop.
Like Cataphylls, the shop already has regulars — some of whom stop by multiple times a week to peruse the racks of rare 1980s and 1990s T-shirts, pants, hats, hoodies and jackets located inside and on the sidewalk. Grateful Dead tie-dye shirts hang from the ceiling.
“It’s an honor,” Foreman, 38, said. “I don’t think I could recreate this feeling anywhere else.”
His prices are higher than a thrift store, since they are rare pieces, but he often discounts them for shoppers who can’t afford them, and sometimes even gives merchandise away for free.
“As an outsider coming to this historic community, I have to give back more than somebody who might be a local,” Foreman said.
His business partner, who is also Black, has lived in Sacramento for 11 years.
More people are likely seeking out Black-owned businesses to support after the national racial reckoning that followed the George Floyd murder by police in Minneapolis, said Anthony Mendes, an employee at Slim & Husky’s, a pizza and beer restaurant that also features music and art. Based in Nashville, the Oak Park location opened about a year ago — the first on the west coast.
Shortly after he started working as a line cook, the restaurant promoted Mendes, who is Black and Latino, to assistant general manager. He believes the main reason is that it’s a Black-owned business.
“Them being able to put that faith in me, that spoke volumes to me,” said Mendes, 30, who had never been promoted at non-Black-owned restaurants and grew up in Sacramento. “I was so used to being overlooked or not being the person they’re ever going to look at whatsoever ... they actually believe in me so it makes me believe in the business.”
A ‘reflection of the community’
The sleek gray three-story building that houses McDaniel, Morgan and Foreman’s businesses opened earlier this year, built on a long-vacant lot at Broadway and 34th Street.
Part owner of the building and owner of Grounded real estate, Sam Allen, said he looked for Black business owners specifically for leases. He also looked for businesses that were a “reflection of the community,” he said.
“We had some people hit us up that wanted to do oysters and a champagne bar, for instance, and it’s like, ‘Woah, that’s not our neighborhood, that’s not our community,’” Allen said.
The company has also decided not to open pizza shops or Mexican restaurants in the building, because they would compete with Slim & Husky’s and La Venadita across the street, Allen said.
“We’re very aware of our place in the district,” said Allen, who’s lived in the neighborhood for nearly 17 years.
The building is divided up into small storefronts, which Allen calls micro-retail. That provides some new businesses a more affordable way to get their first brick and mortar shop. Cataphylls pays $961 a month for their space, Morgan said.
There are several Black-owned appointment-only businesses on the upper floors of the new building, including a barber shop, hair stylist, a children’s book illustrator, and a video production company.
“The owner took a chance on me,” McDaniel said.
Down the street, Danielle Rinderknecht is preparing to open her organic foods market called Goodful. When it opens in the fall near Broadway and Fourth Avenue, the small bright red market will sell organic eggs, meat, produce and healthy snacks.
Oak Park does not have a traditional grocery store within its boundaries, though one plans to open soon at Broadway and Stockton Boulevard.
“I had been looking for a spot we could make more of a difference,” Rinderknecht said. “Opening something in midtown where there’s so much stuff offered already didn’t seem like we’d make much of an impact. We wanted to help out the community and offer people at least what I consider healthy food.”
For now, Goodful sells “bounty boxes” full of fruits, vegetables and baked goods, for pickup and delivery. Rinderknecht is working with nonprofits to start offering discounted boxes to families who are food insecure.
To apparently ease fears of gentrification, Rinderknecht taped a sign to the front door. It reads: “BLACK-OWNED BUSINESS.”
Business closings in Oak Park
The corridor has also seen business close. Apothecary Miel, jewelry boutique Nectar and women’s clothing store Rire all closed during the pandemic. Classy Hippie Tea closed its storefront, but the products are now available at Broadway Coffee.
“COVID did what it did,” said Leo Hickman, owner of Classy Hippie Tea and a new owner of Broadway Coffee. “It wiped the slate clean. Some people survived, some didn’t. Really if you were able to transition to being online quickly you were able to survive.”
That’s what Strapping, the popular gift shop, did. Staff worked long days to set up a website from scratch.
“We started the website just so we’d have some source of income while we were in lockdown,” said owner Susan Stewart. “Me and three other people for four days straight, I’m talking 20-hour days of just entering (inventory) and we got it open.”
For some businesses, launching a website was not enough to remain open. Miel, which sold pottery, textiles and vintage goods, mostly from local artisans, closed its doors in January.
The landlord gave owner Ruebi Jimenez a break on rent when the pandemic hit, but then said he was going to increase the rate. When she asked how much, he said they were not renewing her lease, Jimenez said.
“That was a huge blow,” Jimenez said. “I was, in my opinion, kicked out of my space because I couldn’t wrap my mind around paying any more than I was paying in a pandemic.”
The landlord could not be reached for comment.
For awhile, it was looking like Broadway Coffee, a community gathering place at the entrance to the neighborhood, was also going to be a casualty of the pandemic, its door locked and lights dimmed for over a year. Then Hickman bought it and reopened it earlier this month. On a recent weekday, he waved at every person who walked through the doors, greeting them by name.
“It’s my block,” said Hickman. “You take care of your neighborhood.”
High poverty rate
As the business corridor expands and thrives, Jimenez said it’s important that nonprofits and social service organizations maintain a physical presence in the area. About 24% of Oak Park residents live in poverty, compared to 17% citywide, according to Census data that covers the years 2015 through 2019.
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, located just off Broadway, has a line for turkeys so long every Thanksgiving that traffic controllers are needed. The corridor is also home to Community Against Sexual Harm (CASH), the Salvation Army, Wellspring Women’s Center and a Wellspace Health branch.
“We have no intention to move,” said Terri Galvan, executive director of CASH, which rents the building from Allen, with whom she said she has a good relationship. “We do feel strongly about being here. We’ve long served people with deep ties here.”
Even though business has been good, several of the new business owners can’t find homes to buy in Oak Park — an increasingly pricey and competitive market.
Joel Molina, co-owner of new record store Twelves Wax, is crashing on a friend’s couch in south Sacramento. Foreman couldn’t find homes for sale in Oak Park, at any price point, so he stopped looking altogether. He commutes to Oak Park from the Bay Area.
“We’re trying to hold it down so Black and brown people can own real estate in Oak Park but we’re priced out,” said Ardell Harrison, owner of Off Broadway Blues and Jazz Cafe, opening this fall. “A condo is $475,000.”
Black-owned businesses that opened in Oak Park during COVID
▪ 1 Up Retro Clothing
▪ Cataphylls Aroids and Hoyas - plant shop
▪ The Good Soul - crystal shop
▪ Slim & Husky’s - pizza shop
Black-owned businesses that plan to open in Oak Park
▪ Goodful - organic grocery market
▪ Off Broadway Blues and Jazz Cafe
Other businesses that have opened in Oak Park
▪ Twelves Wax - record store
▪ Alley Oop - thrift store
▪ Jam - baby store
