Two years ago, following the resurgence of the BLM movement and important conversations on racial equality taking centre stage, Black Pound Day was created by British rapper, Swiss, as a way of spotlighting Black-owned businesses and hopefully levelling the economic playing field.
Research shows that there's a huge ethnicity-based pay gap in the UK, with figures suggesting that for every pound a white household makes, a Black Caribbean household earns just 20p, whilst Black Africans earn 10p.
The BPD scheme encourages all shoppers to buy from Black-owned brands (in particular) on the first Saturday of every month, and many business owners initially reported increased sales figures (however, a Cosmopolitan report suggests that unfortunately some later saw a dip in interest and sales). In total, over 1,500 stores are registered on the Black Pound Day directory, which acts as a marketplace to house all of the different brands.
Now, Black Pound Day has taken a bold and exciting step forward by opening up its very first bricks and mortar store in London's Westfield shopping centre, where it stocks more than 80 different Black-owned companies – we're talking everything from clothing lines and jewellery, to homewares and haircare products, to zines and beyond.
The shop says it hopes to encourage people back onto the high street for an in-person experience and plans to offer a department store-like feel for consumers.
Speaking about the new opening, Black Pound Day founder, Swiss, said: "We are so excited to be in a position to create this opportunity to bring the best of our homegrown Black brands to the general high street consumer, ensuring sustainability and consistency all year round."
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He added: "Glancing back to when we launched our pop-up store in 2021's Black History Month, it was a momentous achievement. For those that participated, you could feel the energy shift, how we brought Black retail therapy to the high street, resulting in a mass feeling of reward, which was unprecedented. We really showed how impactful our spending power is, which totally exceeded our expectations. Customers left us with no choice but to go ahead and answer calls to make the Black Pound Day Store a full-time retail experience, all year round."
We can't wait to check it out!
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
