Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles in Oakland is closing Oct. 22 after 34 years in business.
Uhuru Furniture and Collectibles/Yelp
A popular Oakland furniture store known for offering some of the best deals in the Bay Area is closing permanently on Oct. 22 after 34 years of business.
Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles on Grand Avenue announced in an Instagram post over the weekend that both stores in Oakland and Philadelphia operated by the African People’s Education and Defense Fund would close. The East Coast location had been open for 29 years.
“We have been through many ups and downs, but now we are facing a situation where the US economy is in crisis,” said a full statement on Uhuru’s website. “Across the United States, both small businesses and large corporations are closing shop. Skyrocketing rents, rising prices for gasoline, food and goods across the board have created untenable conditions, particularly for African, Indigenous, Mexican and Puerto Rican communities in the United States.”
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Jeanine Griswa, who has worked as an assistant manager at the Uhuru store in Oakland for 32 years, said employees began considering the difficult decision several weeks ago and ultimately concluded the store would no longer operate be profitable. Griswa noted that while APEDF is “growing rapidly” as a national nonprofit, the costs of operating the Grand Avenue store that has sustained it for so long are “skyrocketing to the point where it’s not worth it.” “It’s more of a fundraiser.”
“Uhuru Furniture was essentially a historical landmark,” Griswa said. “Even though it is a community center, has kept furniture out of the landfill, and has provided furniture to literally hundreds of thousands of people over the years, it simply cannot continue to cost the nonprofit organization money.”
Since the 1980s, Uhuru Furniture has offered free furniture donation pickups throughout the Bay Area and resells vintage and one-of-a-kind pieces of gently used furniture and home goods to support Black empowerment programs through APEDF and job training opportunities. Over the years, the store has repeatedly been selected as a Readers’ Choice in the East Bay Express and Oakland Magazine’s “Best Furniture Store.”
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“You come in and trucks are constantly being loaded and unloaded, there are people everywhere,” Griswa said. “Several generations of families shop here regularly and it is a lively place. People are just in shock, they’re devastated – they say they’ve been coming here for years, and if our store can’t survive in this economy, who can?”
In its statement, Uhuru Furniture cited the gentrification of Oakland’s historic African community, the loss of additional SNAP benefits in Philadelphia in early March and other increasing economic challenges as reasons for the closures that “made it impossible for Uhuru Furniture to operate.” Stores need to absorb rising expenses, provide employees with sustainable wages and offer our furniture at affordable prices.” Griswa said some of Uhuru’s 15 employees had to commute up to an hour to work at the store because they could no longer afford it , living in the Bay Area.
“The cost of insurance, the cost of a Black-owned small business, is prohibitive,” Griswa said. “And the economy can’t charge more for furniture – people won’t pay for it.”
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Over a dozen customers commented on Uhuru’s Instagram post saying they were “heartbroken” about the closure. “This is so sad to hear,” one of them wrote. “Oakland is losing something special, damn it.” Some wondered whether a last-minute crowdfunding campaign could save the store.
“But there is no one-time fundraiser that can make the model work in this economy,” Griswa said. “It might delay the inevitable, but unless it’s a permanent, ongoing phenomenon, it doesn’t solve the problem.”
In the weeks leading up to the closure, Uhuru asked customers to continue supporting APEDF’s efforts by donating directly on the website or joining the volunteer effort. The nonprofit also sells Uhuru cakes for the Christmas season. People can donate furniture through Oct. 15 and shop in person and online until the closing date.
“Our goal is to be in the black and raise $5,000 for our community service programs by completion,” Griswa said. “We also want people to submit their stories. Our website will not disappear.”
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APEDF will also continue to operate Uhuru House, a community center in East Oakland, and Akwaaba Hall on MacArthur Boulevard, a low-cost venue that can be rented for weddings, funerals and other events.
“We consider it a victory for these Black-led institutions that they have thrived for over three decades under conditions that normally keep our community out of the economic arena,” Uhuru said in his statement, noting that the national APEDF’s efforts will continue to expand over time through Black Power Blueprint programs in St. Louis, Missouri, which include an African farmers market and community garden, a basketball court, a doula training program, and a women’s health center.
Uhuru is open Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm to 6pm. Visit the website.
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