By Olivia Browning
May 6, 2020
Editor’s Note: With the passing of Kenneth W. Edmonds, publisher of the Carolina Times, we offer as a tribute this profile of Edmonds, his family and the long, proud legacy of the Carolina Times. Originally published in the Durham VOICE, spring of 2017, this article was written by then UNC-CH staff writer and VOICE co-editor, […]
Read moreBy Jazmine Bunch
April 2, 2020
With Durham County surpassing 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19, everyone is feeling the presence of the coronavirus. From social distancing to increased health and sanitation practices, the virus has caused everyone to make major changes in their lives. This includes Durham business owners. Those who’ve put blood, sweat and tears in to their businesses — […]
Read moreBy A.J. O'Leary
February 27, 2020
Most people come to Zweli’s for the only Zimbabwean food in town, but some come to talk politics. On Friday, Feb. 21, Zweli’s, located in Durham, hosted an Elizabeth Warren presidential campaign event as part of its Dinner Table Talks speaker series. Leonardo Williams, who runs the restaurant with his wife, Zweli, said events like […]
Read moreBy Khadijah McFadden
February 14, 2020
Coconut, mango-chile and lavender. You won’t typically find these cotton candy flavors anywhere but in Durham — and they are taking off because of Wonderpuff and its owner Jackie Morin. Wonderpuff is a black-owned eco-friendly business that is just one of the local dream businesses that the nonprofit Helius has helped make a reality through […]
Read moreBy Victoria Johnson
February 13, 2020
At first, Durham dog breeder Dwanson Clark just wanted his money back. Six years ago, his fiancee, Candace Taylor, asked him to buy a dog to keep her company while Clark was deployed with the U.S. Navy. In 2016, Clark decided to breed a litter of seven puppies, hoping to recoup the money he’d spent […]
Read moreBy A.J. O'Leary
Son of the Tater Bread Cafe owner hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps by launching a food truck He started working in his father’s cafe when he was 15 years old. Now, he plans to open a restaurant of his own — on wheels. Harrison Sneed, 24, runs Tater Bread Cafe at 1108 Morning Glory […]
Read moreBy Brooklyn Brown and Celia Farmer
January 30, 2020
On paper, her name is Sade Jones, but the people of Durham know her simply as Ms. Beauty. Jones received this title when she started working at Beauty World in Durham, a beauty supply store on 1418 Avondale Dr #2, in 2014. Jones, 33, is a sales associate and hair specialist at Beauty World. Most […]
Read moreBy Jazmine Bunch
Black Girl Ventures (BGV) has found a new home in North Carolina. Five local business women are coming together to establish a chapter of the Forbes-featured foundation in Durham. BGV provides a unique experience to combat the particular challenges that black and brown women face in starting and growing a business. The initiative was founded […]
Read moreBy James Jeffries
October 8, 2019
Angier Avenue in historic East Durham has seen its fair share of added concrete, construction, and changes to the neighborhood within recent years. This ever-changing landscape we call Durham is becoming a host to new faces, housing spaces, and local businesses at a dizzying pace. One of those newcomers, Sofia’s Pizza, opened its doors to […]
Read moreBy Tyler Williams
October 2, 2019
“We want you to feel like you are welcomed here, we want you to feel like family,”
Read moreBy Arianna Swain
April 25, 2019
This Saturday, April 27, a local young black female entrepreneur is inviting other entrepreneurs and other interested community members to a launch event at 5:30 at R.N. Harris Elementary School. R.N. Harris Elementary School is located at 1520 Cooper St. and entry is free. Zarie Baker grew up in Robeson County in the small town […]
Read moreBy Heaven Gullate
April 24, 2019
Durham native Tracee Nichole Hester wears many hats. Some refer to her as the modern day “Renaissance Woman.” She is a “Good Samaritan,” a wife, mother of three boys, motivational speaker, radio personality, business owner, nail technician, an advocate for young and underprivileged community members, and somewhat of a local celebrity after […]
Read moreBy Arianna Swain
April 10, 2019
The worlds of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open. — Zambian proverb Zambia borders Zimbabwe to the north. And although the proverb above is not from Zimbabwe, it fits remarkably well with Durham couple and restaurant owners Leonardo Williams and Zwelibanzi Moyo-Williams (Zweli). The two […]
Read moreBy Samantha Perry and Sabrina Berndt
Although the 22nd annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has come to an end, UNC-TV will continue highlighting the work of award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson throughout the month. On Tuesday, April 23, UNC-TV will premiere Nelson’s most recent documentary, “Boss: The Black Experience in Business.” The film touches on rarely discussed stories of black entrepreneurship […]
Read moreBy Tianna Degraffenried
April 8, 2019
Black excellence has done it again with five African-American males starting their own comedy show. It’s not just a regular comedy show with a venue, but a comedy show on a school bus. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a school bus. The first Bull City Laughs bus tour rolled out on March 15 to a sold-out […]
Read moreBy Arianna Swain
April 2, 2019
Ian Burris arrived at his food truck a few minutes after opening, ready to get the night started. He was wearing a N.C. Central jacket to stay warm in the cold air. He went over and talked to his staff and dropped off some needed items. Two of his staffers were already getting everything […]
Read moreBy Diane Adame and Veronica Correa
February 27, 2019
After nearly 20 years, the Latino Community Credit Union continues to do more than provide North Carolina’s Latino community with a safe place to store their earnings. A credit union founded in Durham in 2000, LCCU works to educate and empower all communities by offering a financial education program and savings, checking, loans and credit […]
Read moreBy Keeley Gay
Zuri Reynolds-Hester, from Durham, 29, hosted Nzinga’s Got Soul Tasting Party on Feb. 21 to celebrate the launch of Nzinga’s Breakfast Cafe’s new menu items and longer business hours. Reynolds-Hester opened Nzinga’s Breakfast Cafe, located at 828 Fayetteville St. Suite 110, in 2014 with a specialty in Southern breakfast and lunch food. Now, she is […]
Read moreBy Tianna Degraffenried
January 31, 2019
As the residents of East Durham are still facing hard times trying to get around Alston Avenue, business are being negatively impacted by the road closure, due to construction. Business owners who are on Alston Avenue are losing their profit day by day. According to many sources, N.C. 55 (Alston Ave.). is going to […]
Read moreBy Johnny Sobczak and Cameron A. Rogers
January 30, 2019
There is a new era beginning at the Golden Belt campus in downtown Durham, an art gallery that has been the home of major artistic projects for the community. Golden Belt, originally known for its textile factory, is now embracing the many arts cultivated in the Durham area thanks to fresh ownership. In 2016, Scientific […]
Read moreBy Keeley Gay
The white, vine-covered building situated along Durham’s American Tobacco Trail is more than it appears. What used to be an old, small Piggly Wiggly has been transformed into a community-focused dance, yoga and music studio. Threehouse Studios opened their doors to the public on Oct. 22, 2017. The idea of a multipurpose studio was developed […]
Read moreBy Spencer Carney
Hailing from Asheville, N.C., Hi-Wire Brewing opened a third site at Golden Belt in Durham at 800 Taylor St. in November 2018. The 24-tap lineup features six Hi-Wire-brewed beers alongside a mix of Durham beers, wines and ciders. Guest taps from Durham breweries fill 18 taps on the 24-tap lineup. “We’ve really received a […]
Read moreBy Sabrina Berndt and Elisabeth Beauchamp
The widening of Alston Avenue has affected local businesses surrounding the street, despite a compromise between one of those businesses — Los Primos Supermarket — and the state. The construction, which stretches from N.C.Highway 147 to Holloway Street, is scheduled to end January 2020. Since the Alston Avenue widening project was approved in 2015, it […]
Read moreBy Isaiah Ball
November 23, 2018
On the Sunday afternoon of Nov. 18, excited members of the Durham community assembled at 411 West Chapel Hill St., across from the bustling Greyhound bus station for an organic occasion. The upbeat sound from the DJ assisted farmers, entrepreneurs and small business owners in conversation as they gathered under the brightly patterned canopies which […]
Read moreBy Arielle Cummings
November 15, 2018
On the outskirts of the Durham Farmers’ Market – where Foster Street meets Hunt Street, one of the friendliest vendors greets people with samples of liquid sunshine – the best sweet tea. Roman Gabriel, the founder of Romanztea, has traveled thousands of miles physically and spiritually to find himself in Durham, sharing the tea he […]
Read moreBy Arielle Cummings
November 7, 2018
Little did sisters Savannah, 10, and Sienna Forrester, 11, imagine that when their father taught them to make shea butter using a family recipe, they would be able to turn it into a business — The Brown Sugar Sisters. Last week the girls were gearing up for their third young entrepreneurs’ career fair and the […]
Read moreBy Deja Finch
October 22, 2018
Durham locals are turning to an environmentally friendly alternative to dumping garbage. Local service CompostNow has provided a new green aid in reducing the Bull City’s waste. CompostNow aims to fight the Triangle’s landfill issue by turning residents’ food scraps into soil. Meat, dairy, pizza boxes and other materials can be given to CompostNow. […]
Read moreBy Wade McCreary
September 20, 2018
With Hurricane Florence threatening off the coast of North Carolina last week, one local grocery store took precautions to be prepared for the storm. Durham VOICE reporter Wade McCreary went to the Food Lion grocery store at 3500 N. Roxboro St. to check out the scene and see what preparations had been made there. […]
Read moreBy Arielle Cummings
September 10, 2018
What started as a small one-person operation, known as East Durham Pie Company, has now blossomed into a cozy, independent bakery shop. On the corner of Driver Street and Angier Ave., in Old East Durham, sits one of the sweetest delights. The East Durham Bake shop, launched last March by Ali Rudel, has now […]
Read moreBy Deja Finch
A modern revival is slowly underway for historic Old East Durham. But one thing has remained constant for this neighborhood, small businesses. For local owners, Ali Rudel and Ben Filippo, running East Durham Bake Shop has been a labor of love. At the intersection of South Driver Street and Angier Avenue, lies the East […]
Read moreBy Antony Nganga
April 16, 2018
They say love can move mountains, and Joe Bushfan is a mountain of a man. He is big of stature, of smile and of food. Joseph Bushfan owns the Commissary on 2100 Angier Avenue. Although it looks like a quiet location, inside is a buzz of activity. Behind the building, rows of food trucks, […]
Read moreBy Tiara Bell Sanders
Durham-based, fashionably-gifted YouTuber, Domonique Robinson has quite the journey as a social media influencer and owns a make-up line for all beauty lovers. She has been into beauty since helping out her mom in the beauty salon when she was younger. Robinson discovered her passion for doing makeup around 10th grade. “I would always […]
Read moreBy Tiara Bell Sanders
Entrepreneur Ithiopia Meekeda, has launched her all-pure organic line of body products, “Blush Essentials” to the public this year. She is a Durham native and N.C. Central University graduate who believes in her business. “I founded Blush Essentials Natural Body Products in March 2017. I had a soft launch last year to get an […]
Read moreBy Cole Villena
April 11, 2018
Getting a job has never been a problem for Tevin Guasp. The 26-year-old New York native is hard-working, friendly and eager to learn on and off the job. But, without a high school diploma, Guasp found his career options limited. “I found jobs,” he said, “it just wasn’t a job that I necessarily wanted. It’d […]
Read moreBy Marissa O'Neill
March 28, 2018
Cocoa Cinnamon’s newest location in Lakewood continues the tradition of community-centered cafés with a twist: the in-house micro-roastery — 4th Dimension Coffee — and freshly made churros. The new shop opened in August of 2017 and is located at 2013 Chapel Hill Boulevard, across the street from Lakewood Shopping Center. It is the third […]
Read moreBy Baleigh Johnson
February 13, 2018
Evita Mensah is a self-taught fashion designer with a growing clothing line called Evita Loca. She recently got store space at 115 Market Street in Durham, so her local customers can have an in-person shopping experience. Her online store will still be in use to reach beyond the Bull City. Born in Brooklyn, New […]
Read moreBy Kenzie Cook
January 31, 2018
A year ago, 2112 Angier Avenue was an empty storefront sitting next to the local barbershop. That all changed last May, when Durham native Samantha Castrovinci opened her own private tattoo studio, The Studio, after 10 years of tattooing and months of deliberation. “I scoured the internet for six months looking for a place to […]
Read moreBy Justin Laidlaw
December 6, 2017
The Speight family has been a staple of Durham commerce for decades dating back as far as the 1930s with places like Speight’s Auto Service, a business that is still active today. Doug Speight, whose grandfather, Theodore, started Speight’s Auto Service, is attempting to carry on that family legacy for the next generation of […]
Read moreBy Taylor Mabrey
November 9, 2017
“My dream was just to help folks less fortunate than myself,” Durham resident and catalyst Joe Bushfan said when talking about his efforts in his community. While Bushfan has been around Durham for a while now, he has no plan on stopping his efforts to help others. In 2020, he hopes to open a diner […]
Read moreBy Alex Zietlow
November 8, 2017
Just like the skin of the store’s customers, the walls inside 5th Fare — one of Durham’s newest urban galleries and tattoo parlors — are dressed up with artwork. There’s an outlined sketch of a bull with city landmarks filling the animal’s body. There are drawings of sheet music with abstract, unidentified monsters in the […]
Read moreBy Autavius Smith and Carl Smith
October 26, 2017
Casual joggers and athletes may get up in the morning to run for all intended obvious health benefits; lose weight, improve self-esteem, and prevent disease. But for North Carolina State University Economics professor Jason Coupet and a few of Durham’s running clubs, exercise is just part of the health equation for an advantageous lifestyle. A […]
Read moreBy Tyee Meek and Qaadir McFadden
October 24, 2017
Victoria Phillips, 72, the facility manager at The Community Family Life and Recreation Center at Lyon Park, also known as Lyon Park, for about eight years retired in early October. She is moving to Atlanta to be closer to her family. Phillips is also a former student at the center that was once the old […]
Read moreBy Allen Longstreet
October 18, 2017
Angier Avenue was devoid of traffic. It was so quiet for 10 a.m. that it could have been the middle of the night. But inside Samuel & Sons Barber Shop, lively conversation ensued; R&B music filled in the background of stories, smiles and laughs. Samuel Jenkins, 54, gave his first trim of the day to […]
Read moreBy Davis McKinney
If you remember last year’s election at all, you probably associate politics with divisive attack ads and heated debates. But all negative preconceptions were put to rest last Thursday night at Beyú Caffé where mayoral candidates Steve Schewel and Farad Ali met in a moment of political civility to interact with young professionals from Durham. […]
Read moreBy Allison Tate
October 17, 2017
For Joe Bushfan, laughter is important during hard times. That’s why the entrepreneur and community leader started up Joe’s Comedy Corner on Angier Avenue. Now with two successful shows under its belt, it looks like Bushfan and the community are thinking alike. “I think laughter is good for the soul–especially with all these tumultuous times […]
Read moreBy Taquaisha Patrick
October 8, 2017
Making the jump from being a vendor, who sells products at local and regional events and has to unpack and pack and transport and travel, to opening a store is a momentous jump, but brother and sister team Smkiya and Christopher (who declined to have their last names published) have done just that with […]
Read moreBy Daija Graves
October 6, 2017
Business textbooks probably cannot keep up with how the millennial generation is revolutionizing the art of entrepreneurship. College students, using social media and the internet are finding ways to create products and make money. The days of working at the mall to make some money may be coming to an end. One local example […]
Read moreBy Autavius Smith
October 5, 2017
Amid the one-story homes around 506 Burlington Avenue, Love-Way Shoe Repair shop, run entirely by 70-year-old Gayford Caston has prolonged his niche-driven business for 32 years with the help of close-knit ties in East Durham. Patrons looking to inquire about shoe restoration might be greeted with a slow widening smile from Caston; a “Hey, how […]
Read moreBy Gabby Bulgarelli
September 21, 2017
From the first step beyond the threshold at Carolina Soul Records, nothing but music is on display. The on-shift cashier spins records while customers are free to peruse bins and check out their finds at the listening station. Carolina Soul is one wide room. Records line the walls, bursting out of bins. Towards the back […]
Read moreBy Autavius Smith
A bronze-colored, five-foot horse statue made from scrap metal pieces sits at the intersection of Rigsbee Avenue and Hunt Street in Northeast Central Durham. Further down Hunt Street is a sculpture with a scarlet silhouette of three people peddling on unicycles. Placed near the side building backdrop of two men forging metal is another […]
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