local business

Throughout the last few months, black-owned businesses have seen a surge of customers looking to support and help stores that sometimes go unnoticed. Shopblackct.com is a one-stop-shop to utilize the services of black-owned businesses in Connecticut. Sarah Thompson is the founder of the website and came up with the idea after attending a few protests following the death of...

Amid racial tensions across the country, some Connecticut-based black-owned businesses are reporting an increase in sales. “Our sales have sky-rocketed tens of thousands of percent,” said Khamani Harrison, owner of Hartford-based The Key Bookstore. The Key Bookstore is an online interactive bookshop curated for Afrocentricity, environmentalism, spirituality and entrepreneurship. Harrison said that her business was tagged in several articles highlighting…

Inside her unusually empty ice-cream shop, Laura Beckham has a lot of time to think. “I don’t think I do anything but reflect on it,” said Beckham, the owner of Berry’s Ice Cream in New London. “It has been two months of working by myself every single day. I do see my customers when I take them the food...

GROW Windham aims to build a stronger community and local food system.

From Norwich to Hebron, you may notice a similar large white sign in restaurant windows reminding customers, “we are open for take-out and delivery.” David McDowell, of Sign Professionals in Norwich, made all of the signs and handed them out to local restaurants for free after the governor announced a COVID-19 fueled restaurant closure. Restaurants in Connecticut are now only…

Mckenna Haz is an athlete who loves the ocean as much as she loves sports. “The ocean and the preservation of the ocean is extremely important to me,” said Haz.   She had an idea last spring break for a clothing line that wasn’t just eco-friendly but also offer a solution to pollution. “So we’re basically taking recycled plastic...