Urban Reads Bookstore, Baltimore, Md., is now also the home of My Mama's Vegan, which is operating a café inside of the bookstore. Baltimore Fishbowl reported that when owner Debonette Wyatt "learned about an available café space inside Urban Reads Bookstore, she asked the bookstore's owner Tia Hamilton if her vegan food business could fill the spot."
"The location was perfect," Wyatt said. "The inside is warm and inviting. Tia and I are also on the same page about a lot of things." My Mama's Vegan previously offered carry-out at 2915 Greenmount Ave., just south of its new location, but Wyatt said she "decided to switch things up a little to do more of a cafe/bistro. This will allow us to be more intimate with our guests as well as have some flexibility with our menu."
Hamilton noted that she opened her bookstore partly as a venue to publish and sell her magazine, State Vs Us, which "highlights high-profile cases, wrongful convictions, and success stories of formerly incarcerated individuals.... We are also the hub for prison and local authors."
In addition to the magazine, Urban Reads sells books, CBD products, soaps, sage, candles and more, Fishbowl wrote, adding that the shop also provides faxing, copying and notary services, and hosts events. Wyatt and Hamilton have hosted community events in the past, and are looking forward to doing more together and having a greater impact.
Diane Emerson, executive director of Waverly Main Street, said the collaboration between the two Black woman-owned businesses is cause for celebration: "You now can experience the best of both worlds: enjoying some crafted meals from My Mama's Vegan and wander through the rest of Urban Reads to pick a book. Now, you can stay a while, eat, read, and learn about all of the great things happening in and around the city of Baltimore. As a Black woman leading a nonprofit, it's important to me to make sure our minority businesses succeed."