First Black-Owned Beauty Supply Store Opened in Mechanicsburg
Nyla Anderson
Feature Editor
[email protected]
Owner Jacqueline “Jae” Alexander organizing right after opening the show for the day.
Entrepreneur Jacqueline Alexander opened Hampden Beauty Supply in Hampden Township in April of this year, one of very few for black hair supply stores on the west shore, and the only black-owned one. Currently she sells mostly synthetic and human-hair wigs, and is planning to expand as business grows.
Beauty supply stores are considered vital to many black Americans, because they sell products that many large chains like Target or Walmart don’t have. Specific moisturizers, wigs, gels, oils, durags, and bonnets are sold with a lot of variety for black consumers to choose what best fits them, which large chains don’t do because they don’t cater only to black americans.
“Any beauty supply store we go in, it’s pretty much asian-run. And that’s nothing against the asian community, it is a statement of fact,” Alexander said. “Our median income was less than 30k, but we were spending a good portion of our finances on hair…I just wondered why don’t we have it? Why don’t we own a beauty supply store?”
According to author In-Jin Yoon, there are over 9,000 korean-american owned beauty supply stores, compared to only 300 that are black-owned, yet these beauty supply stores are targeted towards the black community. Alexander has been affected by the korean-american community's hold on the beauty supply market, as she has had trouble finding direct product suppliers because many are connected through korean-american owners.
“My future goal and vision for Hampden Beauty Supply is to be more than just a beauty supply store,” Alexander said. “We want to offer education, we want to make sure to have that certain level of respect for every woman, but especially minority women.”
Alexander plans to add 15-minute chair massages, wig care services, and wig installment lessons to create a comfortable and caring environment for all of her customers. In the near future, she will be hosting wig parties for women dealing with hair loss to talk with each other and try on wigs without judgment.
Hampden Beauty Supply is located at 11 North Railroad Avenue, Mechanicsburg, PA, and more info can be found on her website, Hampden Beauty.