Black Black Friday. Whether you’ve seen the ad featuring LIVt , caught the logo on a billboard, or heard about it from a friend, this year Black Friday is all about elevating, celebrating, and supporting Black-owned businesses.
A collaboration between Intentionalist and Seattle-based ad agency, DNA, with Premier Supporter, BECU and partner Business Impact NW, Black Black Friday aims to harness what is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year to catalyze $250K in sales supporting Greater Seattle Black-owned businesses.
INTRODUCING THE BLACK BLACK FRIDAY CARD
Get it. Gift it. To encourage and incentivize the community to #SpendLikeItMatters, the Black Black Friday Card is a digital or physical card featuring art by Damon Brown that can be used exclusively at participating Black-owned businesses.
Bonus: Thanks to BECU, enjoy a 20% discount* — this means you pay $40 for $50 to spend at Black-owned businesses, $80 for $100 to spend at Black-owned businesses – you get the idea.
USE THE BLACK BLACK FRIDAY CARD AT 100+ BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES
One card. So many Black-owned businesses where you can #SpendLikeItMatters!
From Avole to Zuri’s Donutz:
- Caffeinate by the cup at Boon Boona, Tougo Coffee & The Station
- Raise a pint or glass at Poco Bar and Lounge, Footprint Wine Tap, Metier Brewing & 23rd Ave Brewery
- Grab a bite at Arleana’s, Fat’s Chicken & Waffles, Habesha Cafe & Lockspot Cafe
- Purchase personal care and invest in your wellness at City Sweats, My Time For Massage, QueenCare
- Shop for a new look at Emry Boutique & Rabecca Onassis Boutique
- Find the perfect gift at Adorned Abode, ARTE NOIR & Citrine Design Shop
Take a look at all participating Black Black Friday Card small business destinations and spread the word as we continue to register additional Black-owned brick + mortar small businesses every day!
REMINDER: BLACK BLACK FRIDAY IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST ONE DAY
While Black Black Friday is an economic justice call to action that takes its name from the shopping day after Thanksgiving, Black Black Friday Cards can be purchased today and expire seven years from the date of issuance.
Consider purchasing a $500 Black Black Friday Card (you only pay $400) and use it to make every Friday a day to intentionally support local Black-owned businesses.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“The greatest economic driver of our local economy is each of us. Every day we make decisions with our money on where to eat, shop for goods, who to hire for services or where to go for entertainment and fun. This holiday shopping season, we all have the opportunity to make a difference for small businesses – and campaigns like the Black Black Friday Card help us do just that,” said Mayor Bruce Harrell. “For many businesses — especially Black, women and minority owned –Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and the entire holiday shopping season are critical revenue boosters. I’d like to thank Intentionalist, DNA, BECU, and partners for their leadership and call to action to intentionally harness consumer spending to support our local economy, to value community, and live out our One Seattle vision where our entrepreneurs and small businesses can succeed.”
“Intentionalist was created to help raise consumer awareness about the important role small businesses play in local economies,” said Laura Clise, founder of Intentionalist. “This collaboration aims to elevate Black-owned businesses and the inspiring people behind them, while making it easier for all of us to put our collective thumb on the sales of economic justice. We’re excited to partner with DNA and BECU to connect the community to the inspiring Black-owned businesses in our network.”
“Black-owned businesses are vastly underrepresented in the Puget Sound area as compared to the population, and they have significantly larger challenges succeeding,” said Alan Brown, founder of DNA. “As one of the only Black and LGBTQ+ owned agencies in the country with a mission to bring equity to our communities, we want to do everything we can to help Black-owned businesses thrive. That means raising awareness of these businesses and driving real revenue on the biggest shopping day of the year and throughout the holiday season. Using our creative talent and collaborating with our media partners and sponsors BECU and PCC Markets, we’ve been able to bring nearly $1 million in media support and messaging access to millions of residents in the Pacific Northwest.”
“Join us as we set economic equity in motion this holiday season!,” said QueenCare owner Monika Matthews. “With intentional spending we can begin to close the gap on economic disparities by supporting Black businesses. Black Black Friday offers high-quality products and services, and with each purchase, there is the cultivation of meaningful transformational interactions that foster healthier communities. So let’s make history this Black Black Friday by directing our dollars into uplifting an ecosystem that can flourish.”
THANKS TO SEATTLE’S OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Back in 2019, Intentionalist received a request from our community to provide a card that could be gifted and used at local businesses. We created the Intentionalist Gift Card, which for the past three years has been constrained by the challenges of scaling an in-house technical solution in ways that make it easy to both purchase and process transactions. In 2022 we received a Neighborhood Economic Recovery Fund grant from Seattle’s Office of Economic Development to help transition our limited program to one that can be more easily and rapidly extended to include hundreds of businesses, providing a valuable way for companies, community-based organizations, and consumers to give the gift of spending at diverse local businesses.
Thanks in part to the support from Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, the Black Black Friday Card and broader Intentionalist Card programs leverage technology that doesn’t require participating small businesses to own or operate any hardware or software beyond the existing point of sale systems they use to process credit card transactions.
*BECU has generously underwritten a 20% discount on Black Black Friday Card sales up to $250K.