There is a national trend within the retail industry to reach out to minorities in a disadvantaged position due to a renewed focus on race relations stemming from recent social unrest. Citi Trends, Everytable and Community Commons — the Mall of America’s space dedicated to minority-owned brands adversely affected by Minneapolis’ pandemic and riots — are doing their part to give the minority audience a solid retail foothold.
Citi Trends, the Savannah, Ga.-based value-priced retailer of apparel, home goods and accessories, is expected to open between 30 and 35 new stores per year over the next three years. The brand, which produced $782M in sales last year, intentionally places its units in lower-income urban and rural areas with a large African-American and Hispanic population. The chain will target the Northeast and Midwest for expansion, especially Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nebraska and Iowa. The brand looks for 11,000 to 14,000 s.f. of space in retail strip centers in trade areas with a minimum of 30,000 people. Ideal co-tenants include Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only Stores. Look for Citi Trends to negotiate ideal lease terms for vacant retail spaces in impoverished neighborhoods that have been adversely affected from COVID-19 closures and civil disorder. Citi Trends sells name-brand products for all age groups at up 60% less than market value. Last month Citi Trends offered up to ten grants, at $10K each, to black business owners to encourage their success.
Everytable plans to open approximately 20 to 25 new units per year over the next three to five years. The health-minded “grab-and-go” restaurant chain recently received $16M in Series B funding from various investors such as Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Creadev. Everytable will expand into San Diego, San Bernardino, Calif., and Phoenix, followed by new units in Northern California, the Eastern Seaboard, Texas, the Southeast and the upper Midwest. Everytable has nine leases in place for locations throughout Los Angeles and expects to open between three and five stores and a large central kitchen space in New York City by the end of this year. Like Citi Trends, Everytable also expects to leverage rent reductions in vacated retail and restaurant spaces in distressed neighborhoods. Its square footage requirements range from 500 to 1,500 s.f., with its commissary kitchens seeking about 30,000 s.f. of space. Everytable specifically looks for space in disadvantaged neighborhoods that lack adequate nutritious dining options. The restaurant chain seeks persons of color from marginalized communities to receive training to own and operate franchised units, using capital provided by Everytable’s “Social Equity Franchise” program. The ultimate goal of this franchise program is to not only expand access to healthy food to all socio-economic brackets, but to also remove barriers toward minority business ownership.
Last September, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., offered up 5,000 s.f. of its retail space, called Community Commons, for up to 17 minority retail business owners whose storefronts were adversely affected by the civil unrest in Minneapolis this past year. The retail tenants are offered three months of free rent, after which the tenants can either remain in the space for six more months at a reduced rent, or transition to a new space within the mall. This April the Urban 29 clothing brand, whose store was damaged during the 2020 riots, will relocate to a standalone store space in the mall. Other brands in Community Commons include Ebony Gifts, which features African culture products and The Peach Eatery, which sells peach-themed pastries.
