B.B.C., formerly known as Black Beauty Collective, has enlarged its brick-and-mortar footprint and undergone a rebrand that speaks to its inclusive mission.
The beauty retailer, which made its debut with a 400-square-foot Chicago location last year, has branched out to a 286-square-foot location in Free Market Playa Vista, an outdoor retail complex in the West Los Angeles neighborhood of Playa Vista that houses Whole Foods, Alchemy Works and Heyday. It stocks almost 30 beauty brands from diverse founders across skincare, makeup, haircare, bath and body and wellness such as Bixa Beauty, Tress Organix, Ashunta Sheriff Beauty, Lamik Beauty, CURLS4U, Marla Rene and Bronze Glory.
The Playa Vista store opening marks more than merely physical expansion for B.B.C. Launched as a showcase for majority Black-owned brands, B.B.C. is broadening its lens to brands from other underrepresented communities like veterans and people with disabilities as well as a range of ethnicities and sexual orientations. To cement the change, the retailer has transitioned from the name Black Beauty Collective to the name B.B.C., an acronym standing for “bold, brilliant, confident.” New brands to the assortment, including veteran-owned Regeily Skincare, are representative of the retailer’s evolution.
“We don’t want to isolate ourselves into a space where it’s just about, oh, it’s all Black, it’s just for Black people. It’s not just for Black people,” says Leslie Roberson, founder and CEO of B.B.C. “If you like shea butter and you like clean beauty shea butter, you just use it. If you like makeup and lip gloss, you use it. So, that’s really what we want to focus on. We want to expand our vision and our brand ethos to be more encompassing of all the different diversity that’s out there.”
B.B.C. operates on a membership model where brands pay monthly fees for shelf space and access to the retailer’s online platform. Brand fees start at $100 per month. Brands in more than one store pay an additional membership fee that’s discounted by $75 per store. In total, B.B.C. offers three membership tiers priced according to the amount of brand marketing support and exposure.
Once stocked in a B.B.C. store, brands receive 100% of their sales after credit card processing fees and sales tax are deducted. They can leverage the store and store associates to stage events and activations for no extra charge. Roberson, who’s self-funded the business through her personal savings and 401(k), shares that B.B.C. only generates revenue through membership fees and guides brand partners on which products to merchandise on shelf.
“I wanted to develop a model that was different than a traditional retail model,” she says. “There’s a lack of access to capital for a lot of Black founders. That is one of the many things that creates that barrier for brands being able to scale into the bigger box stores.”
Access to capital, community and education are B.B.C.’s brand pillars, and Roberson tries to foster connections with investors to help brands advance their businesses. Last summer, B.B.C. curated gift bags for a retreat that private investment community Black Women in Venture Capital (BWiVC) hosted on Martha’s Vineyard. Christian McKenzie, a director of Chicago-based VC investment firm Lofty Ventures, is B.B.C.’s COO.
A former corporal in the United States Army, Roberson went into corporate recruiting after completing her service and held senior roles at Meta, CNO Financial Group and Wayfair. She became an entrepreneur in 2021 with luxury linen business The Velvet Collection, where she partnered with top Chicago designers on celebrity events for the likes of Jennifer Hudson and Magic Johnson. Roberson sold The Velvet Collection in 2023.
B.B.C. stemmed from Roberson’s realization that premium experiences were at a premium in the beauty supply store sector. “I went into your traditional beauty retailers like your Credos, your Sephoras and your Ultas to understand not just what they offer, but also the business models, what kind of founders were in the stores and where the gaps were,” she says. “So, I decided to create a space with the mindset that we were going to support Black founders in the beauty industry to increase their visibility.”
Roberson estimates that about 3,200 customers walked through the doors of B.B.C.’s Chicago store last year. The location grossed about $68,000 in 2023 sales, with $22,000 generated in its initial month in business.
Skincare brands Marla Rene and Bronze Glory and makeup brand Ashunta Sheriff Beauty are bestsellers at B.B.C.’s Chicago store, and they’re available at the new Los Angeles location. B.B.C.’s assortment has brands at various growth phases, from those premiering at retail to those stocked at large retailers like J.C. Penney.
Roberson aims to extend B.B.C.’s store network in at least two more major cities over the next five years. New York is probably next on the list, and Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Houston or Toronto are expected to follow it. Roberson is pursuing initiatives to leverage B.B.C.’s brand and drive further revenue for brands through separate wholesale opportunities like curating toiletry kits for hotels.
“I’m all about identifying more resources because a big part of this is supporting the entrepreneurs in this store,” says Roberson. “I’m always looking for opportunities on the ground, meeting new people and just growing from there.”
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