Black Owned Businesses

A house along Beatties Ford Road in northwest Charlotte was recently renovated and opened as a tea bar. The Pauline Tea-Bar Apothecary offers teas and pastries — and a place for people to unplug. It’s also designed to be an anchor in a mostly Black community that has begun to see a lot of change.

A Black-owned bookstore that closed earlier this year has reopened under a new business model to be sustainable.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce has announced plans to raise $1 million that could be dispersed as micro-loans to local Black-owned businesses around the region.

Businesses can begin applying for another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans this week. Only a small fraction of Black-owned businesses have received loans as part of the CARES act.

Lezlie Briggs had been following the news, and knowing that cold weather was on the way, she wasn’t surprised when Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that he was keeping North Carolina in Phase 3 of restrictions. She'll follow guidelines, even though her bar 1501 South Mint hasn't had an easy time since opening last December.

In the first half of 2020, COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement impacted Black-owned businesses across North Carolina. But months have passed and…