DETROIT — As a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, Raphael Wright ensures that there’s strategy and influence in all his businesses. Wright is an author, the founder of streetwear brand Make The Hood Great Again, a media company, a mechanic shop, a community garden and most recently Taste the Diaspora Detroit.
But he's hoping to make his biggest community impact through his latest venture, Neighborhood Grocery, a community-funded grocery store in the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood that he plans to open this summer.
In 2016, Wright sat back and thought about his community. Detroit’s east side is a food desert. There have been no Black-owned grocery stores in the city since 2014, and he wanted to change all of that. “Every neighborhood in Detroit needs a grocery store,” Wright said. The Manistique Market was standing on the corner of Manistique and Essex for decades, having closed in November 2019. So Wright jumped on the opportunity, landing a deal to buy it last June.
“There’s no immediate grocery store in this area, at all. We have tons of gardens in this neighborhood, but when it’s all said and done, you need a grocery store,” he said, so he challenged himself to be the one to close that gap and take an entrepreneurial risk.
He came into this business knowing that it wasn’t going to immediately yield profits, which posed a bit of an issue since he also is reluctant to reach out for funding from large corporations.
“Traditionally, grocery stores cost a lot of money. Even this project is not cheap; and groceries present the lowest margins in any industry. You’re looking at an average of 1% to 3% in the net profit, so it’s just not a sexy investment for a bank or investor to want to build a grocery store,” Wright explained. “That’s why you don’t see grocery stores just popping up out of nowhere. But you’ll see a fast food chain, because it’s just a (higher) investment return.”
And Wright was determined that this project would be about more than just money.
Raphael Wright talks with investors following a meeting outside of the former Manistique Market building that he owns that he is planning to start a Neighborhood Grocery as an equity initiative for Detroiters to become investors in a new grocery store that will come to the location at Manistique Street and Essex Drive on Detroit's east side.
According to the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation’s 2018 Neighborhood Retail Opportunity Study, the retail market in the Jefferson-Chalmers area is dominated by beauty and nail salons. “While an important service, there are other retail needs that are unfulfilled in this neighborhood, particularly grocery and pharmacy,” the report said. Citing the report, Wright noted that one of his main reasons for starting Neighborhood Grocery was because the neighborhood is food insecure, and the report also states that in 2019, 39% of Detroiters were food insecure.
“Over here, there is unmet demand. Millions of dollars are leaving this neighborhood, going to a Kroger or Meijer, and they’re leaving because there’s just not enough food here in this area,” Wright said. “And then, you have these fast food sources: liquor stores, gas stations, fast food chains all over the place — that creates food insecurity. People aren’t eating healthy. It’s not that there’s no food here, it’s that there’s not enough good food or healthy food here.”
It's a problem that Natalya Henderson, also a resident of the city's east side, said she saw, too. Like many others, Henderson says she often goes to the suburbs for groceries because she feels there is a lack of quality food and produce at many of the inner-city markets. She sees Neighborhood Grocery as an asset that can bring health and value to her and the community. So she invested.
The inside of the former Manistique Market building owned by Raphael Wright that he is planning a Neighborhood Grocery as an equity initiative for Detroiters to become investors in a new grocery store that will come to the location at Manistique Street and Essex Drive on Detroit's east side.
After pondering multiple funding options and his love for community, Wright knew that equity or investment crowdfunding was the way to go, saying that it disrupts the idea of needing major investors. Instead, crowdfunding allows the community to build what they need. “We’re conscious of the low margins, but this is a social (impact) project. We don’t have to go to the bank per se, we can raise the money ourselves. We can really just focus on creating a healthier neighborhood,” he said.
It’s very rare that you’ll hear Wright discussing the store and taking credit for the growth of the business; it’s always “we,” and there’s a reason for that. Referring to the store as an inclusive place, Wright sends weekly emails to investors, and always includes them in major decisions. To receive investors’ input and to ensure they’re informed on developments, Wright holds monthly investor meetings to go into detail beyond the emails. “This is a project for Detroiters, with Detroiters … and that would not be possible without equity crowdfunding,” Wright said.
The inside of the former Manistique Market building owned by Raphael Wright that he is planning a Neighborhood Grocery as an equity initiative for Detroiters to become investors in a new grocery store that will come to the location at Manistique Street and Essex Drive on Detroit's east side.
Some meetings are held in person, at the future Neighborhood Grocery location. Due to social distancing restrictions, Wright only allows a maximum of five investors, who RSVP on a first-come, first-served basis. When meetings are held via ZOOM, all investors are welcome.
Another important mission of the grocery venture and its crowdfunding is building financial literacy. Over 80% of Neighborhood Grocery’s investors are Black, so Wright said he saw this as an opportunity to set them up to further their economic knowledge through an initiative that for many is right in their own backyard. Henderson agreed. She said it's an opportunity for residents to solve a community issue and learn about investing, all they have to do is take the first step.
“It’s like the saying, ‘buying back the block,’ (allowing you to) take ownership and taking pride. When you own something, you care about it more,” Henderson explained. “Even kids have that notion. They’re like, ‘this is my toy, so I’m going to take care of it and protect it. Versus if it’s yours, I might mess it up.’ ”
Wright bought the brick and mortar building amid the pandemic, so there's been some ups and downs. His investor pool shrunk in 2020 because of economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But even the pandemic has had an ironic upside.
The former Manistique Market building that is owned by Raphael Wright that he is planning a Neighborhood Grocery as an equity initiative for Detroiters to become investors in a new grocery store that will come to the location at Manistique Street and Essex Drive on Detroit's east side.
“Those foundations, traditionally who wouldn’t have looked at this as a sexy investment, are now looking at it as a sexy investment because now we see that we don’t have food outlets (in this neighborhood),” Wright said. When the pandemic forced numerous businesses to close because of stay home orders, necessities like grocery stores remained open. Wright feels that seeing the essentialness of groceries are opening the eyes of large-scale investors. “Now we’re getting more attention and funding that we need that we wouldn’t have gotten if it wasn’t a pandemic,” Wright said, explaining that he couldn’t take on this $300K project alone, especially during the pandemic.
To date, Wright has personally invested $50,000 into Neighborhood Grocery, has raised $55,000 from over 500 donors on GoFundMe and $20,000 from 246 investors. Neighborhood Grocery’s average donation is $75, but anyone can become an investor for as little as $50. The only requirement: Investors must be a Michigan resident.
Investors will receive an annual interest when the store breaks even, product discounts and have a say in store decisions.
As 98% of Neighborhood Grocery’s investors are Detroiters, residents like 22-year-old Jerjuan Howard said he invested because he feels like the store encompasses important values. “Seeing the mission of what (Wright) wanted to do in a predominately Black city, Detroit; the food sovereignty, food security, and self-sufficiency is everything that I think that the Black community needs to thrive and advance,” he said.
Investor Jerjuan Howard talks about the former Manistique Market building owned by Raphael Wright that he is planning to start a Neighborhood Grocery as an equity initiative for Detroiters to become investors in a new grocery store that will come to the location at Manistique Street and Essex Drive on Detroit's east side.
Neighborhood Grocery is Howard’s first investment, and he said he is glad that the investment was in his own community, because “that’s what’s going to push us forward.” Howard said he likes the store’s crowdfunding model versus going corporate for one main reason: “Black people’s problems have to be solved by Black people. We have to be our own saviors. So when a Black man has a great idea, you have to support him because he is providing a solution to our problems.”
Henderson agreed, saying that the community doesn’t have to wait for others to give ownership, but through crowdfunding, everyone gives ownership to themselves. “We need more collective minds at the table, in not just grocery stores, but an array of things,” she said.
When Wright shifted from being a revenue-seeking entrepreneur to a socially-conscious entrepreneur that gives back, he set out to focus on community development in Detroit, because, as Henderson and Howard said, giving ownership to the community was important. And it starts with Neighborhood Grocery.
Raphael Wright poses for a photo in the former Manistique Market building that he owns where he is planning a Neighborhood Grocery as an equity initiative for Detroiters to become investors in a new grocery store that will come to the location at Manistique Street and Essex Drive on Detroit's east side.
“I want to rebuild communities in the city of Detroit, and that foundation (to rebuild) is food,” Wright said. “To build neighborhoods and communities, you have to have healthy food access and healthy food outlets, and grocery stores are the anchor to building communities.”
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To become a donor or investor in Neighborhood Grocery, go to neighborhood-grocery.com for complete details.
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