Village Market
Hallmon, a former educator, is the CEO and founder of The Village Market, an Atlanta, Georgia-based marketplace launched in 2016 for Black entrepreneurs. According to Forbes, Hallmon moved to Atlanta a year ago to work as an education research and evaluation specialist for the Georgia Department of Education.
But after observing trends in retail and Black consumers, she set her sights on strengthening the Black dollar: She began hosting monthly masterclasses focused on entrepreneurship and community development, according to LinkedIn.
The Village Retail
Village Market opened soon after the masterclass. Hallmon’s savings of $20,000 and another $3,500 from family and friends funded the initial marketplace. The venture was successful, and in 2020, the storefront was expanded as Village Retail. But launching the retail store was a challenge for Hallmon.
“What I did was write out a vision of what I want for when the pandemic is over.” “It’s a big part of what we’re doing,” Hallmon said during the Elevated Tour in Houston, Texas. “And I thought, ‘When the world opens up again, I want to be a better person.’ And that’s when I had the vision to launch the name Our Village. And I had the vision to launch The Village Retail Stores. So the two companies [were] It was born out of one of the most difficult and scariest moments of my life.”
She continued, “So, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t scared. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have anxiety. That doesn’t mean I had to go through some tough moments with my team. I personally paid my staff from my own bank account to keep them employed… If I don’t panic, something will happen. If I just pause for a second and allow myself to dream differently…I’d be fine if Village Market hadn’t changed. I’d be fine if I hadn’t changed.”
Embracing the shift was the secret to their success: the stores operated on a percentage-of-sale model: entrepreneurs were charged a fee to stock their products, and a percentage of the profits was deducted from the final transaction.
According to Forbes, Village Market has helped generate $8.3 million in wealth for Black entrepreneurs, up from $4.5 million in its first year. Over the past two years, Village Retail has generated $1 million in sales, including e-commerce sales and Village Retail’s lifestyle brands.
“You can start a social enterprise and put real numbers on it,” Hallmon said. “Black retail businesses can survive.”
Our village is united
In 2020, Hallmon founded the nonprofit Our Village United, which provides tech training, a small business incubator program, and access to wellness coaches and mental health experts. Entrepreneurs have also benefited from the foundation’s Elevated Tour, in collaboration with Mastercard’s In Solidarity initiative and the BeyGOOD Black Parade Route, which recently provided them access to a $75,000 grant pool.
Among the seven tour stops was Houston, Texas, featuring Simone Hopes Steele (Queen Aesthetics), Jonathan Cole (Chop Up Jay LLC), Sena Pierre (Purpose Pouty), Anjuli Garcia (Studio Junk), LaToya Mosby (The Behavior Toolbox).
