Leon’s Thriftway: The ONLY Black Owned Grocery In The Country

This weekend, I attended a meeting hosted by the Buy Black Empowerment Initiative, a local group dedicated to helping small black owned businesses in the Kansas City area. During the meeting, while discussing the itinerary for the upcoming months, one of the volunteers asked what businesses they would be helping in the near future beside Leon’s Thriftway, a local black owned grocery store that the group has been actively supporting, perhaps more so than any other business. The organizers’ response to her question shocked me. It turns out that Leon’s is the ONLY black owned grocery store in the country. This is more disturbing than I originally thought which was they were the only one in the region.

This bothers me on many different levels especially when you think about the many successes blacks have had as entrepreneurs one of these being Black Wall Street. In the early 1900’s in Greenwood (Tulsa), OK, there was an entire community of blacks that represented the entrepreneurial spirit that conservatives believe to this day. Over 15,000 people resided in this community and it boasted over 600 black owned businesses. This included movie theaters, restaurants, schools, hospitals, law offices, a bank and even a public bus system. This community also had 30 black owned grocery stores.

Now I know as conservatives, we tend to shy away from conversations that divide things by race but in a way, I think we are wrong to do so. Yes, we do believe in ALL small owned businesses and many of us even go out of their way to support them but we do need to be honest about that fact that black businesses have really taken a hit especially under our current President. They are failing all across the country for many different reasons yet we remain silent because we don’t want to play into the lefts racially divisive games.

But imagine if we did go out of our way to support our small minority owned businesses that may not have the means to market on the same level as many white owned businesses. Imagine if we talked about the importance of shopping local and supporting local businesses in minority communities so that perhaps those that live in that neighborhood can see how vital it is to their local economy. There is nothing divisive or racebaiting about putting forth an effort to support those that are suffering so much in an area that support so strongly. It is, after all, the conservative way.

*Click the link to learn more about the Buy Black Empowerment Inititive and to support Leon’s Thriftway, you can visit them at