Amazon is big but nothing compared to the grocery business. In 2018 Amazon brought in $232.89 billion in total revenue. The United States is home to 38,000 supermarkets and they bring in $650 billion a year, according to the Food Marketing Institute and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The grocery business is still growing. In the 1990’s grocery stores carried about 7,000 items but today, stores carry 40,000 – 50,000 items. If we are to thrive, we cannot be left out.
40,000 items represent a lot of jobs. Take, for example, a box of pancake batter. Before it ever makes it to your local grocer, farmers must produce the raw grains and other ingredients that will be used in the mixture. The farmer or farmers are kept in business. Those raw materials must get transported to the pancake batter manufacturer. The shipper is kept in business. The product must then be manufactured. The company must employ people to do so. Once manufactured, the product has to get to various retail outlets, locally and not so locally. The shipper has more business. The batter arrives at the retail outlet and is sold, creating jobs for the retailer and food for the community. Now multiply that by 40,000 — that’s what Black America is missing out on.
The supermarket is the most basic life force in a community. It represents food, jobs and sustainability. Throughout our history in America, Black people have been the ones who farmed the land and created the cuisines that fed and nourished the country. It is a cruel irony that now, having been “freed,” we are largely consuming the products others make. We can literally change that overnight. We Buy Black is raising money to create Soul Food Market, a grocery store that will sell products made by Black entrepreneurs. Imagine if we created the pancake batter, grew the strawberries and produced the cheeses? It can happen and it must happen.
There are only a couple of days left to donate to this worthy cause. Stop right now and donate $10 to help make this a reality. If all of our followers did so, we would easily eclipse our goal. It’s time for action. If we say that we care about creating jobs and wealth in our community, we must show it now. Click here to donate now to Soul Food Market. Amazon is a giant but it is nothing compared to the grocery store business. We have a chance to get our piece of it, help us get there.
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