Stepping into Prosperity Market’s 48-foot-long pink mobile trailer is like walking into a full-fledged grocery store that’s been stocked with all of your favorite produce and locally owned products.
Two aisles of metal shelves feature packaged goods from Black-owned businesses such as Station 1923’s Creole Smoke seasoning, Papa’s Rice’s pre-cooked Jollof rice, and Ghost Town Oats milk. In one corner, copper baskets hold fresh produce: passion fruit, Meyer lemons and carrots from local Black farmers like Kenneth Sparks II of the Farmer Ken and Charles Southward of IGH Gardens. A mini-fridge is filled with grab-and-go salads, cartons of eggs and bottled beverages made by Crenshaw Juice Co.At the front of the trailer is a built-in food truck where chefs can rent the space to cook.
Founded by former makeup and fashion industry veterans Carmen Dianne and Kara Still, the idea for Prosperity Market was planted in 2020, on the same day that Dianne was admitted into a competitive makeup artist mentorship program.
“I found out that I was accepted the day — the literal day after George Floyd was murdered — and this thing that I was so excited about, I instantly stopped caring about it,” she says. “In the back of my mind, I was just like, ‘We need Black-owned grocery stores.’”
After many discussions, the two longtime friends decided to jump into a new industry with lofty goals, even though they didn’t have traditional food business experience. The new mobile farmers market, which debuted Saturday with a pop-up party outside of Earle’s on Crenshaw restaurant in Leimert Park, is the tangible embodiment of more than five years of work.
“We would have never guessed that the process of getting the trailer on the road would have taken as long as it did, or have gone this way,” says Still.
Black business owners were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with the National Bureau of Economic Research reporting that 41% suffered business losses in 2020. A Yelp report from that same year found L.A.’s metropolitan area to be the hardest hit for business closures in the country.
Since the pair held their first Prosperity Market event in 2021, Los Angeles residents and businesses have faced additional financial struggles due to entertainment-industry strikes, devastating fires, ICE raids and rising living costs.
“The craziest part is now feels just like then in the sense that businesses are closing and everything that’s happening with SNAP and food, like all of the same issues are even more exacerbated now,” says Dianne. “I hate that that’s a reality, but it really does show how important what we’re doing is, and I’m glad we started when we did.”
After years of crowdfunding and engaging locals with farmers market pop-ups, an online store that delivers vendors’ products locally and an annual Black Business Scavenger Hunt held every August, the solar-powered and electric-run trailer will begin traveling around L.A. County this spring.
To start, the trailer will appear at local events for in-person shopping, but the plan is to eventually ramp up to a regular weekly schedule with more predictable neighborhood stops. The goal is to keep featuring the same vendors’ products — save for seasonal items and newly added brands — so that customers can expect their favorite items every time they shop.
“This is a new phase and a new chapter for us,” says Still. “It’s kind of like starting a new business even though it’s been the original plan.”
A new kind of market
Outside of the iconic Earle’s on Crenshaw, the street was blocked off as shoppers milled around sampling stalls from 20 vendors, many of whose products were sold inside the trailer. In the trailer’s attached food truck, chef John Cleveland of Post & Beam — a James Beard award-nominated Crenshaw District restaurant that closed last year but now operates through pop-ups — whipped up shrimp and grits and braised oxtail hash.
“When I found out that they were launching Prosperity Market with the truck, I desperately wanted to be a part of it,” says Cleveland. “It’s something that the neighborhood needs so much.”
Chef Sharon Graves from BLVD Kitchen performed a cooking demonstration making fresh hummus and lemonade using vendor products. From the back of Earle’s black pickup truck, Myah Stone (who performs as Myah Moves) spun R&B hits while KJLH-FM radio personality Tammi Mac got on the microphone as the master of ceremonies.
Shanta Smith, a neighborhood local, found out about the event on social media. She purchased a bottle of Plush Ginger Beer, mushroom and jackfruit jerk tacos from My Daddy’s Recipes and ice cream from All Chill. “I’m always looking to give to local businesses to build up the economy of L.A.,” says Smith.
Nikkia Johnson of Traquilitea herbal teas says she’s seen her business grow since she began selling at Prosperity Market’s pop-ups in 2022, including a feature on “Good Morning America.”
“As a small Black business owner,” says Johnson, “it’s a special feeling to have the support of another Black business that’s doing something on a grander scale, to take me along with them and feature and support me, and bring my products to places that I never thought it could go.”
An ever-expanding business
For now, Dianne and Still are focused on getting the trailer on the road, and will be announcing stops on their website and Instagram. On April 18, Prosperity Market will be open to the public at Array Creative Campus, founded by director Ava DuVernay, in Historic Filipinotown as part of a series of film screenings. Every Sunday in June, the trailer will be at Smorgasburg L.A.’s outdoor food market in downtown L.A. For people unable to shop in person, they can support Prosperity Market through its online marketplace.
The pair can’t help but dream big. Once they amass a fleet of trailers in L.A., they plan to expand throughout California and then to their native Maryland. “Prosperity Market should be in every city,” says Dianne.
The community support fuels them to keep moving forward. “If people are willing to give their time or spend their money with us, I think that says a lot about how they value us, see us, and respect the work that we’re doing,” says Dianne. “I really want to honor that, so I want to make sure that we show up even stronger.”
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