The smell of burning incense filled the room as Asha Grant, the owner of the Salt Eaters Bookshop, greeted folks who entered to attend Black Queer Speed Dating, one of many events put on in the community space.
Attendees could grab name tags and enjoy a table spread filled with assorted fruits, meats and cheeses. To a visitor, the bookshop in Inglewood, California, is beautifully curated, with a memorial painting of Latasha Harlins, a Black girl who was killed by a Korean store clerk in 1991, contributing to the onset of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The Salt Eaters Bookshop also hosts a community board filled with Black-centered events and businesses, and bright colors that catch the eye.
In Grant’s eyes, there’s still work to be done.
“People don’t know behind the scenes what it takes to keep a space running, to keep the lights on, to keep the A/C going, to keep the wifi … , like all these things,” she said. “It’s a lot of output. I mean, it’s worth it, but also like these spaces that people treasure and love are usually run by like one, two people, really not a lot of horsepower behind it. So it’s like, yeah, I’m giving ya all that I got until the end.”
Since its opening in 2020, the bookshop has been hit with financial challenges, including the rising cost of commercial rent. A survey conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that 32% of Black small-business owners reported facing issues with the increasing cost of commercial rent. According to a 2017 survey conducted by California Reinvestment Coalition, now known as Rise Economy, 54% of California small-business owners reported that they often face displacement. The survey also reported that businesses owned by people of color often have to relocate due to landlords increasing commercial rent. A report by the National Association of Realtors found that commercial rent increased by 3.5% for retail spaces in 2023, which is higher than it was before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As Grant celebrates entering a new three-year lease, she worries about the challenges that will come with it, including the annual increases. The new lease has increased the bookshop’s total monthly budget for rent, utilities and general expenses by $500-$1,000, she added.
With commercial rent rising despite limited funds, Grant knows having a community space in the Downtown Inglewood area means bracing for the impact. “The development is so rapid, and it’s so violent,” Grant said. “And it’s only gonna go up from here.”
Grant started throwing rent parties in 2023 to help offset costs. The first had a theme: Beyoncé’s Renaissance album. The bookshop threw another party a few months later, on Juneteenth, a second Renaissance celebration. One-hundred percent of the ticket sales for the parties went to the bookshop’s rent relief fund, which remains live and is 60% under their goal. According to Grant, the proceeds have been able to offset a few months of the bookshop’s rent.
“I don’t want for the space to be threatened again,” said Grant. “I just don’t.”
Salena Pryor, the president of Black Small Business Association of California, believes that Black community spaces were especially affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, as shutdowns led to many spaces being unable to keep up with the commercial rent. “When [businesses] were able to get qualified for the PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] and EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loan], they were so far gone with the rent that … it was almost impossible for them to catch up,” said Pryor.
During the pandemic, small businesses owned by people of color suffered more closures than businesses owned by white people. According to a 2021 study conducted by researcher Robert Fairlie and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 2020 saw a 41% decrease in active Black small-business owners. A Yelp economic report found that Los Angeles suffered the most permanent business closures in the United States in 2020.
Pryor asserts that Black businesses need to be financially supported for people to have a space to convene. “When you don’t have the funding to do it, it’s almost like the community suffers,” said Pryor. “When you start seeing these businesses close, you kind of take away the lifeblood of the community.”
At a garage sale hosted by Erdavria Rose Simpson, one of the owners and founders of the Lazy Rose Cafe, a Black-owned coffee shop that recently closed in Los Angeles, music from Hamilton played from a loudspeaker. Simpson used to play Hamilton and Disney songs at the Lazy Rose Cafe because they reminded her of being committed to service. Laid on two long tables at the garage sale were materials from the coffee shop, from tea bags to glass containers, ready to be sold to the same customers who had patronized the cafe.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Simpson was inspired to open the cafe after facing burnout in the navy and working in the Los Angeles mayor’s office. She saw that Black women often had to work harder, and she wanted to create and cultivate a place where they could “take a lazy day”.
In 2020, Simpson, along with co-owners Antonio Martin, and Yvonne and Kevin Dunigan, opened he Lazy Rose Cafe in the Mid-City area and hosted tea parties and entrepreneurship workshops for the community. The Lazy Rose Cafe storefront closed for good in September 2023 due to lack of funds to sustain the increase in commercial rent and other business expenses.
“I’m still thinking through a closure,” Simpson said. “I still desire to make a huge impact, especially [because] I’ve always been community-minded. So it’s like, OK, what’s next?”
The garage sale alone won’t be able to cover the amount lost from opening and maintaining the cafe, but for the owners, it’s a way to let go and mourn. Simpson, with the other owners, put thousands of dollars of their personal savings into opening the cafe, she said.
They installed improvements such as stairs and counters and purchased a water heater, in addition to paying $4,000 a month for rent the first year. The rent increased to $4,500 for the following two years. When the rent increased to $5,200, and the 52 grants the owners applied to seeking financial help were denied, it was time to close. Simpson says she and the co-owners had many discussions with Botach Management, the property management company they paid rent to, about lowering the rent but were never able to come to an agreement.
Botach Management did not respond to requests for comment.
Billi Sarafine, a frequent visitor and community member of the Lazy Rose Cafe, says she is still shocked the cafe is closed and will miss hosting her events in the space. “We had to look for other places to host our meetings,” said Sarafine. “The spaces we are now at are not Black-owned, so it’s not the same feeling of ‘you belong here, you’re safe’. It’s still a kind of side-eye. But we try to ignore that and just empower each other.”
Even though Andre Taylor isn’t an avid coffee drinker, he brought a friend into the Lazy Rose Cafe one day and fell in love with the energy of the space. After engaging in a deep conversation with the owners that day about love and growth, he decided to join the community. “I don’t really get to see a lot of African Americans around me when I walk around the neighborhood,” said Taylor. “So it was really nice to get a real Black feeling, if you know what I mean, within the space. After meeting them, I was just hooked.” Since the closure of the Lazy Rose Cafe, Taylor has missed walking in and seeing the vibrancy of his people. “To see that empty space, it’s really sad,” said Taylor. “The community can really feel the absence of that.”
For Simpson, the only way to move forward was to shut the door fully.
“Even though I’m kinda seeing different opportunities and trying to figure them out, I also have to afford myself the opportunity to mourn this one part of it and then get back out there with the objective being how best to serve in the mission that I set for minorities to have lazy days,” she said.