Coffee shops are never just coffee shops: They’re community centers. That’s especially true at Black Coffee NW, established in 2020 by Darnesha and Erwin Weary. Here, Black entrepreneurs sell their wares; the neighborhood comes together to support local artists; young people gather, study, and learn job skills, from marketing to espresso pulls. And Melanin Mochas are served hot.

Boosh opened its doors on Juneteenth 2021 with an eye toward community building—and owners Shawn and Julissa McWashington have lived up to their promise to share the love with super accessible plant prices, free potting services, and a neighborhood shop that's welcoming and full of life.

Angela Brown combines two passions—film and skincare—in this line of organic products featuring Black starlets "from a brief era and cinematic genre in American history when there were films that were exclusively produced, written, directed, performed, and distributed by Black artists for Black audiences," Brown notes. This is not an uncritical representation of "race films," but one that seeks to honor "a diverse range of underappreciated Black actresses" who starred in them. Brown Angel products can be found at Pike Place Market's Ventures Marketplace.

Mary Wesley established her Central District centerpiece in 1984 after realizing how the community would benefit from a flower shop, per an interview with South Seattle Emerald’s Ronnie Estoque. The community has expressed its gratitude ever since. Turn here for floral arrangements for every occasion (and then some) and to support a true Seattle institution—the flower shop, we mean, but Wesley herself surely qualifies, too.

Proprietor Karl Hackett has an eye for midcentury marvels worthy of his impeccable wood restoration, on display at the Hillman City store named after his first son, Jacob Willard (whose middle name is a nod to Hackett’s late father). “Furniture nerds” with a specific look in mind—say, white bouclé lounge chairs—should stay apprised of the Jacob Willard Instagram page, where he frequently offers up items pre-revamp so buyers can pick custom finishes.

What started in Colina Bruce’s kitchen as a pandemic passion project soon became a brick-and-mortar location in Belltown: “I don’t take for granted that, as a Black woman, having a space in the eye of the Space Needle is a big deal, and it’s personal for me,” Bruce says. While Noir Lux’s house scents (“Manifest That Ish,” “Who All Gon Be There?”) speak for themselves, customers can also try their chandler skills at the DIY custom candle bar. Good luck topping those names, though.

Every crafter’s got a stash of odds and ends at home—scraps of fabric they love, yards of fabric they don’t. Deborah and Gary Boone’s Pike Place shop provides a rare opportunity for stashers to exchange materials through consignment, meaning each project makes a slightly smaller dent in your wallet (and the planet).

This Central District package hub delivers far more than just crucial shipping, notary, and mailbox services to the historically Black Seattle neighborhood—it’s a pillar of the community. Founder D’Vonne Pickett, who was tragically murdered in 2022, named it after his late great-grandfather who worked as a Central District postman for 37 years. “When we started out, we wanted to make money for us, you know,” Pickett told Seattle Met in 2019, “but there was a real, bigger feeling behind keeping communities connected.”

This line of natural bath and body products stays true to its name: Aromatherapeutic shea cream, brown sugar scrub, and bath bombs facilitate self-care, while the business itself extends that care to the community in the form of funding for youth programs and entrepreneurial opportunities for women through founder Monika Mathews’s nonprofit, Life Enrichment Group.

For Sukie Jefferson, scents are just half the story: Candles, especially the ritual of lighting them, can help us slow down, unplug, and “really just chillllllllllllll the fuck out.” Hear, hear. Those scents are really nice, though: coconut lime, cinnamon chai, golden rose, all hand-poured with love. "Whether we're dancing, singing or listening to music while we're making candles," Jefferson says, "I like to think that all of that energy is felt" in the product itself.

Designer Valerie Madison sets sustainability at the center of each of her shop’s unique pieces: Engagement rings feature conflict-free diamonds, recycled gold, and a low carbon footprint since everything’s made right here in Seattle and sold at her Madrona shop, the state’s only Latina Black–owned fine jewelry store.