One woman’s mission to ‘buy black’ on Black Friday

On Black Friday, Candy Lowe won’t be joining the crowds lining up outside a big department store to grab a deal before dawn.

Instead, she will visit a local clothing shop called Curvy Girls, pick up gift cards from Body Temple and purchase oils at African Extravaganza — all small businesses, all black-owned.

“We have to keep these dollars in our community just a little bit longer,’’ says Lowe, 54, who has made it a personal mission to support African American entrepreneurs in her hometown of Tampa, Fla. “If we can …   we’ll see an economic improvement. If we see more businesses getting support, it won’t be so frightening to be a business owner.’’

About 164 million people will shop over Thanksgiving weekend according to the National Retail Federation, many of them clicking through Amazon or storming the aisles of big box retailers to grab door busting discounts in the kick-off to the holiday shopping season.

But Lowe believes it is important to spend this weekend helping smaller businesses in her own community, and is encouraging others to do the same.

“Black Friday, I will be encouraging everyone to ‘shop black,’ ‘’ says Lowe, a nurse who previously owned her own tea shop. “I will be literally walking in our neighborhoods . . . encouraging people to come out, to go out and shop with black-owned businesses.’’

Lowe’s efforts reflect a growing consciousness among African Americans that reached a fever pitch last year when the country was roiled by a divisive presidential campaign, and sometimes violent protests in the wake of a wave of police killings of unarmed …

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