Healthy Markets · A GABA Field Study
Find a Black-owned grocery store near you.
African and Caribbean food and grocery businesses are among the most concentrated sites of diaspora entrepreneurship in Michigan, and among the least studied. Healthy Markets pairs direct support for these businesses with systematic research, so that every freezer delivered and every consultation held also builds the evidence for what this sector needs to last.
Why a Research Institute Studies Food
Where our economy, health, and culture meet.
Food production, import, and retail is one of the highest concentrations of African and Caribbean entrepreneurship in Michigan. These stores are not marginal retail. They are community infrastructure: where families find the foods of home, where newcomers get their first job, and where neighbors share news. That makes them one of the most revealing places to study what our businesses need and what holds them back.
What keeps diaspora food businesses from reaching the capital they need to grow?
How do sourcing and supply chain costs shape what culturally relevant food costs families?
What changes for a business, and its neighborhood, when it gets the right infrastructure?
How We Study
Serve, measure, then change policy.
Healthy Markets is a field lab. Support is delivered first, outcomes are tracked before and after, and findings feed directly into The Legacy Agenda and the next round of support.
We serve
We invest in the equipment, supplies, and technical assistance food businesses actually need.
We measure
We track capacity, jobs, waste, product range, and growth before and after support.
We change policy
What we learn informs The Legacy Agenda and shapes where support goes next.
We build on a long line of research that learns by doing, alongside the communities it serves.
African & Caribbean Grocery Directory
Find the foods of home.
Our landscape mapping of African and Caribbean grocery stores across Michigan and nearby Ontario. Use it to find a store near you, and help us keep it complete.
No stores match that search yet. Know one we're missing? Let us know below.
Michigan
Ann Arbor 2
Detroit 5
Grand Rapids 2
Sault Ste. Marie 1
Across the border · Ontario
Know a store we missed, or see something out of date? This directory grows with our community. Listings come from GABA's field outreach and are provided as a community resource. A listing does not mean a store is a GABA partner or program participant.
Add a Store →Preliminary Field Data
Small stores. Real economic weight.
Early figures from stores that have shared data with GABA so far. As more businesses report, this picture will sharpen.
Literature & Secondary Data
The national data is clear. The need is real.
of privately held grocery stores in the United States are immigrant-owned, a concentration well beyond immigrants' share of business ownership overall.
Americas Society / Fiscal Policy Instituteof Black-owned businesses were denied a loan, line of credit, or merchant cash advance in 2024, the highest denial rate of any group, compared to 18 percent of white-owned businesses.
Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Surveylabor force participation rate for Sub-Saharan African immigrants in 2024, above the overall foreign-born population at 68 percent and the U.S.-born population at 63 percent.
Migration Policy Institute, 2024 ACSof workers across the U.S. food supply chain are immigrants, above their 17 percent share of the civilian workforce.
Migration Policy Institute, 2025Family African Market · Detroit
A freezer. A family. A business built to last.
When the Family African Market in Detroit needed a commercial freezer to preserve inventory and expand capacity, they didn't need advice. They needed a partner who would show up with real resources.
We provided a new commercial freezer and delivered it to their door. Not a referral. Not a training. A real resource, and a data point in how infrastructure changes a business.
- Increased inventory capacity and reduced food waste
- Expanded product offerings for the surrounding community
- Strengthened the long-term sustainability of a family-owned business
Partners & Infrastructure
Feeding families beyond the store shelf.
Healthy Markets connects to a wider food ecosystem, from community food distribution to the trade infrastructure our grocers depend on.
Focus: HOPE
Since 1968, Focus: HOPE has fought poverty and racism in Detroit through practical action. GABA partners with Focus: HOPE on community service days through GABAGives, and points families to their food programs:
- Food for Seniors: monthly food assistance for eligible older adults
- Wayne County food distributions, including Inkster and Ecorse
The GABA Marketplace Center
Michigan's first African and Caribbean trade and distribution hub. Food businesses in Healthy Markets gain access to its physical infrastructure, supply chain resources, and business ecosystem, an institution being built to serve the Great Lakes region for generations.
What Food Businesses Receive
From first consultation to sustainable growth.
Direct Support
Equipment, supplies, or infrastructure provided directly when a business needs it to grow.
Technical Assistance
Personalized consultations that identify gaps and build a plan around each owner's goals.
Capital Connections
Banking relationships, credit-building tools, and funding sources historically out of reach.
Supply Chain & Market Access
Access to supply chains and trade corridors through the GABA Marketplace Center.
Supplier Relationships
Diversified supplier networks so culturally relevant goods don't come at a premium that erodes margins.
Research to Policy
Every business supported adds to the evidence behind GABA's legislative agenda.
Join the Study
Own a food business? Let's build together.
Healthy Markets is open to African and Caribbean food and grocery business owners across Michigan. Apply to GABAWorks, or support the research that keeps these stores standing.