Yahoo Lifestyle B.B.C., Chicago’s Beauty Retailer Offering Black-owned Brands, Expands to L.A.
B.B.C., formerly known as Black Beauty Collective (and recently rebranded as “Bold. Brilliant. Confident.”), is celebrating its one-year anniversary with an expansion to Los Angeles.
It is founder Leslie Roberson’s second location in the U.S., after opening shop in Chicago in 2023.
More from WWD
PubMatic and Klarna Partner for Programmatic Advertising, Increasing Engagement Rates
LVMH Expands Partnership With Alibaba Group to Deploy AI in China
Rihanna Launches Fenty Beauty Alley Pop-up During Whirlwind China Trip
“We decided that the L.A. market would be the perfect market, because, obviously, it’s one of the top beauty cultures out there,” Roberson told WWD. “And so, I know there’s tons of influencers that are in the beauty space that reside in the L.A. market, and I thought it could be great for our brands to be exposed to this. I think introducing a lot of our organic products in this market is absolutely perfect. And the number of content creators and beauty professionals in the industry are there. L.A. is all things beauty in my mind.”
Showcasing more than 50 Black-owned beauty and wellness brands in-store and online, B.B.C. proposes a different retail model.
“It’s positioned from a customer’s perspective as a traditional retailer — you go online, you can shop, you can come into the store, you can purchase — but the model from a founder’s perspective is actually a collective model,” Roberson explained. “We don’t wholesale any products in our store. All of our founders are actually members of the collective. They pay a monthly membership fee, and as part of their membership, they get access to retail shelf space, they’re able to do complete, unlimited activations in the store, they’re automatically on our online platform for no additional costs. And then they receive 100 percent of their retail sales.”
Roberson, an entrepreneur and model with a corporate background — working in talent acquisition and diversifying teams — recognized a gap in the beauty market when it came to diversity, she said.
“There’s been underrepresented brand owners, and it wasn’t because we weren’t creating products,” she went on. “It is because the lack of access to capital and the lack of resources that come along with that. And so, what I decided to do was create a space where I could leverage my background and my previous experience and all the things that I am to help other founders become visible.”
At 300 square feet, the new store is inside retail concept Free Market in L.A.’s Playa Vista neighborhood, located at 12751 Millennium Drive PU 1. The product offerings range across categories in skin, hair and wellness. As part of Roberson’s mission, she helps tell the founder and brand stories, which are rooted in personal history and experiences, while creating a collaborative environment.
“This particular demographic are usually solving some kind of need in their immediate space,” she said of the founders. “We do weekly brand info sessions so that they can not only learn about the business but understand the culture. I am really big on the development of our culture where it’s a welcoming environment. It’s an environment where we cross-collaborate, we’re working together on a similar cause in us growing our businesses.”
The L.A. store opening is part of B.B.C.’s five-year expansion plan.
“New York is the goal next,” she revealed, adding that her fourth store will be in the South — either Houston or Atlanta.
Best of WWD
