Is it just me, or is it everytime you go into a black cosmetics store, there are other races (usually Asians) behind the counter? I am a north londoner and the biggest black cosemetic store chain in the area is situated in Finsbury Park-Pak Stores. Pak Stores are worth millions, if you take a look at Stroud Green Road, it is clear to see that they have monoplised the whole area; green Pak stores signs everywhere you look. They are run by, (you guessed it from the name Paks) Pakistanis. Do black people have a problem with this though? In no way is this a racist post, suggesting that different races cannot sell the products of another race. But is it not an issue that black people are not the ones to profit from products that are made for black people. Yesterday I stopped some shoppers at the Finsbury Park stores to get their views.
Denisha Johnson, 19 is a student at Middlesex University, and lives in Tottenham, North London. She is a regular customer of Pak stores, she said: “I come here to buy the hair for my extentions, cocoa butter, Dax and other products you can’t find in in Boots or Superdrug.” Commenting on the store being run by Pakistanis she said: “I’m not that keen on it. It’s not just here though, it’s wherever you go in London. It would be better if black people were the ones making money off black people. But then again black people don’t get off their lazy arses and do something about it. It’s all very well to complain, but if there is no action what can you do?”
Sheila Owusu, 41, an accountant from Holloway said: “If black people were the ones selling they could offer a lot more assistance to you as a customer, because they would know what they are talking about. I come here and they try to sell me hair of two different colours and get me to mix the two. A black woman would know that would come out looking terrible!”
The store manager refused to comment on the staff’s knowledge of black hair products and requested me to leave the store.
Through asking around, it is clear that many black women do not like buying their products from other races, but since there is a lack of black alternatives they make do. Pak Cosmetics simply saw a market and exploited it, and that’s buisness for you. It seems that the complaints of black people against black people will remain merely complaints, unless they can offer something better for the black market.
Oh man, I have a Korean friend at home and I knew her parents owned a store but for the first time last summer did I realize it was a Koren Black Hair Store. I think many Black people are starting to sell their own hair products (oyinhandmade.com, carol’s daughter, miss jessies) but there is a monopoly at play.