Greetings businesses involved as first permanent Black Pound Day store opens on Saturday
The first permanent Black Pound Day store opens this weekend – just two years after the leading movement for Black-owned businesses launched.
The shop opening in Westfield London on Saturday, 25 June, will enable more than 80 Black-owned businesses to sell greeting cards, stationery, haircare, homeware, fashion, beauty and gifts direct to shoppers, boosting the reach of Black Pound Day which came about in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement.
Founded by award-winning UK music artist and So Solid Crew member Swiss, Black Pound Day aims to encourage people to replace their usual purchases with services and products from local and online UK Black-owned businesses.
And the economic movement focused on empowering Black firms and entrepreneurs – which has evolved into a company that connects culture, consumerism, and the business community – is currently running a national survey for Black-owned businesses to gather fresh data and research about their needs and experiences which customers can take part in here.
With greeting card and stationery companies including Africa Greetings, Avila.Diana, Aziza Illustrates, Bokoo, Book & Kulture, …By SLH Designs, Eclectic Gift, Natasha Charles Boutique, Noir Cards, Sanaa Gift Shop, Stacey-Ann Cole Art, The Black Card Company, The Copper Fruit, and Wild Cinnamon Cards listed, the platform currently has over 1,500 businesses on its directory and has raised awareness of black-led businesses across the country since its launch.
And the brand-new permanent store, which has Wild Cinnamon Cards among its offer, follows last year’s successful Black Pound Day pop-up shop also at Westfield, which is the biggest shopping centre in Europe.
Swiss said: “We’re so excited to be in a position to create this opportunity to bring the best of our homegrown Black brands to the general High Street consumer, ensuring sustainability and consistency all year round.”
Aiming to get both brands and shoppers back on to the high street, Black Pound Day will offer a department store-like experience for consumers to support established as well as up-and-coming black-owned businesses including recent Dragons’ Den winner March Muses.
The movement believes the site opening will be making a significant change to the accessibility of Black-owned businesses, allowing Londoners to shop without having to spend time browsing the shelves to find the brand and products they want.
“Glancing back to when we launched our pop-up store in 2021’s Black History Month,” Swiss added, “it was a momentous achievement. For those that participated, you could feel the energy shift, how we brought Black retail therapy to the High Street, resulting in a mass feeling of reward, which was unprecedented.
“We really showed how impactful our spending power is, which totally exceeded our expectations. Customers left us with no choice but to go ahead and answer their calls to make the Black Pound Day Store a full-time retail experience all year round.”
Created to support the growth of the UK Black economy, the movement’s mission is to address the economic inequalities and imbalances affecting the UK’s Black businesses and entrepreneurs such as that for every £1 a white household makes, Black Caribbeans earn 20p while Black Africans earn just 10p.
The next Black Pound Day takes place on 1 July, and it’s free to list a relevant business on the website or, to find out to become a seller with the grass roots initiative, click here.
Top: In-store experience – the Black Pound Day pop-up shop
