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Women’s History Month
Black Girls in Trader Joe’s Normalizes Shopping In Niche Grocery Stores
‘Never should — in 2021 — a Black woman ever feel uncomfortable going to a store that provides a service or a product that is essential’
Cleveland-based esthetician and food blogger Mercedes “Dee” Davis created the Black Girls in Trader Joe’s Instagram account last May, just after the pandemic-related shutdown of her beauty shop. Within two days, her following jumped to 10,000. In less than a year, it jumped to 150,000.
Davis launched the brand because she knew that she couldn’t possibly be the only Black woman who shopped at the California-born grocer known for its unique and affordable foods and also known for its affluent locations.
Since then, Davis’s brand has taken off, amassing followers and posts tagged #BGITJ by the hour, landing her a monthly column with The Kitchn, and becoming her full-time job. In honor of Women’s History Month, Davis talks to ZORA about the inspiration behind the brand and how she’s using it to hold predominately-White spaces accountable while also empowering Black women.
ZORA: How did you get the idea of Black Girls in Trader Joe’s?
Davis: Social unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement — all those things kind of fueled it. I think people were looking for Black creators, but also Black Girls in Trader Joe’s was giving voice to Black women who just love Trader Joe’s or love food and love the community that it created. People were like, “We want merch, we want bags. This is how we want to identify ourselves when we go shopping.” That created the business for me, essentially.
We love the brand’s tagline: “We in this thang.” What inspired that?
Being in predominantly White spaces, and being faced with race issues and questioning White people and their Whiteness, was nothing I was unfamiliar with doing. I would get looks (while shopping) like, “Who does she think she is?” It’s a grocery store. To buy food. People are thinking that Trader Joe’s is not attainable or somewhere that they can’t shop. We need to get rid of this misconception because whatever Trader Joe’s is doing…
