The digital publication Urban Girl Magazine is hosting a Black Business Crawl on Saturday, December 11th with all stops in Newark except one. Each attendee will board a shuttle provided by Party Bus 360 and get off and shop at each stop on the business crawl. Local businesses have registered directly with Urban Girl Magazine to become a stop on the crawl. In an effort to combat the low circulation of the black dollar during the holiday season the publication thought this would help encourage the community of Newark, and beyond to support black owned businesses. Everyone that attends will receive 2 gift bags full of free products and information about other black owned businesses in the area.
“The idea is to create a fun experience where we circulate the black dollar in our neighborhoods more than once. According to statistics, the black dollar circulates only once in our community, in comparison to the white community, where the dollar practically circulates an infinite number of times,” said Desiree Hadley, owner of Urban Girl Magazine.
Urban Girl Magazine started as a blog that has grown step by step into a locally recognized brand that is nowhere near done growing. The website pumps out content on entertainment, beauty, local news stories and more. The inception of hosting this Black Business Crawl was born out of the excessive growth they’ve seen through social media.
Urban Girl Magazine started a TikTok account in April of this year with intentions on growing their following. The brand saw a boom in followership and engagement when they found their ‘niche’ on the social media app. Videos that focused on highlighting and reviewing black owned businesses in the Newark, NJ area seemed to get the most engagement.
“We began to use TikTok as a way to help push our branded content but quickly noticed our followership and viewership spiked when we reviewed black owned businesses. People seemed eager to support these businesses. They didn’t care to read articles here; they wanted reviews and interesting places to go. A lot of these places I’ve always known about but many others didn’t. So we began utilizing TikTok for that purpose,” said Desiree.
On behalf of Urban Girl Magazine, Desiree decided to host an in-person business crawl that puts the emphasis on supporting balck owned businesses which has the potential to create lasting customer and business relationships.
The stops on the crawl are listed below:
- The Sistah Shop – 651 Kapkowski Rd, Elizabeth, NJ
- Boss Blend Coffee – 25 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ
- Brownmill Company – 49 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ
- Plantivia Wellness Newark – 45 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ
- Source of Knowledge – 867 Broad Street, Newark, NJ
- Neptunes Bar n Grill – 304 University Ave, Newark, NJ
- Newark Winter Village – Mulberry Commons Park, Newark, NJ
There are still a few tickets left. If interested in attending, make sure to purchase your ticket before they’re sold out!
