MINNEAPOLIS — Dozens of locally owned businesses set up shop Friday morning at the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis, braving the cold for an opportunity.
"There's not many people in North Minneapolis that's doing stuff like this, so when the opportunity is out, come support," Prince Clark, who goes by King, said.
Clark was one of many participating in Black Friday on Broadway, a chance for local businesses without a physical storefront to sell their products. Clark's brand, LostLovers Clothing, started when he was 15.
"I wanted to create a brand with love and healing," he said.
That brand has been growing ever since. Now 18 – Black Friday is actually his birthday – Clark says events like these are a big deal.
"Connection, one-on-one connection, is big important," he said.
That face-to-face connection is a huge deal for the locally owned storefronts, competing for space among the big box stores on Black Friday.
"Have places like this for me, to show that people have things out there just as good as what's out there already," Fitzgerald Davis, who runs Sleeper Keepers LLC, said.
"We go to Macy's, JCPenney, there are tons of vendors that are like that for our community," Shemeka Bogan, Project Manager for Black Friday on Broadway, said.
Black Friday on Broadway is put on by the West Broadway Area Coalition and the Northside Economic Opportunity Network, highlighting and helping local entrepreneurs.
"I think it's really cool to see the creativity in the community, right where you live, right where you work," Bogan said.
Black Friday on Broadway also extends to Saturday as well. Businesses will be set up again from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
While all of them encourage you to shop local, Clark says sometimes all they need is to be seen.
"You don't even have to, you know, buy nothing," he said. "Just showing up and showing the people that you see what they're doing."