Historical Spotlight: Fancy & Staple Groceries

Success in America has always been subjective and dependent on a person’s socioeconomic status. Black Americans have never been granted equal, fair opportunities to achieve success which has led to disparities in income, generational wealth, education, and more. Despite this, many Black Americans have worked hard to fight through slavery, Jim Crow, Reconstruction, segregation, and racism to create their own version of success. Join me as we shine a Historical Spotlight on Fancy & Staple Groceries, the first high-end grocery store opened by Black American, Samuel T. Wilcox.

Fancy & Staple Groceries was opened by Samuel in 1850 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It stocked and sold only premium-quality products like hams, dried fruits, cigars, sugar, molasses, liquors, and soaps, which were very difficult to come by during that time in history. Mostly only affluent patrons could afford to shop at the store. What began as an initial $25,000 investment grew to bring in about $140,000 in annual sales. In today’s money, that’s about $4.2 million dollars. 

Samuel was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia around 1814. In the 1800s, Black Americans were limited in their pursuit of wealth due to slavery and freedmen being shut out of certain markets, fields, and ventures. One venture that was particularly lucrative and popular to help Black men become wealthy was owning a barbershop and it’s estimated that one in eight Black men who were considered wealthy at the time owned one. 

Samuel fought against being put in a box and decided to instead go into the grocery business. Many criticized his plans and gave discouraging advice stating that “nobody would buy groceries of a colored man.” He proved his critics wrong and built an insanely successful business, breaking the mold of the stereotypical wealthy Black American of that time. 

Prior to opening Fancy & Staple Groceries, he developed a pickling and preserving business, giving him the necessary experience he needed to succeed. During his height, he was Cincinnati’s largest grocery retailer and introduced a grocery store model never seen before in the United States. He’s also recognized in history as the most prosperous Black American in wholesale food distribution at the time.

The Cincinnati location was extremely successful, allowing him the opportunity to expand and open stores in Baltimore, Boston, and New York. Patrons loved that the aesthetic of his store was more like an apothecary store than a typical grocery house. As his wealth grew, he ventured into other business opportunities, eventually becoming a real estate tycoon and a hotelier. 

Unfortunately, he lived an extravagant lifestyle that proved to be a hindrance to keeping his business afloat. It’s estimated that he blew through most of his money, leaving his estate with only an estimated worth of $60,000. He passed away in his home after suffering from a brief illness. 

While success is a vague concept that everyone seems to be chasing, it’s entirely in the eye of the beholder. Some people define success by earning millions of dollars of wealth while other people view creating a large, close-knit family as the ultimate goal to strive for. The concept of success has also evolved and changed from the inception of the country to now. As Americans have progressed in ideas, laws, traditions, and norms, so has the finish line. 

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Signed, 

Jessica Marie