By Chandra Meadows
There’s a reason we called it the Retail Readiness Survival Forum. Not a networking mixer. Not another motivational session. We named it what it needed to be: a space to talk about how we’re surviving, right now, as entrepreneurs, navigating a retail world that’s shifting, tightening, and, in many ways, pulling back what it once promised.
On April 29th, we gathered to sit down and get real. No corporate gloss. No PR spin. Just honesty, strategy, and community. The room was full of people who have worked their way onto shelves, scaled direct-to-consumer models, and weathered every storm that’s hit small businesses over the last five years. But this wasn’t a conversation about branding or storytelling. It was about the pressure points: tariffs. DEI rollbacks. Silent exits from big corporate partners. Consumer boycotts that made headlines but didn’t turn into receipts.
RICE Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Terri-Nichelle Bradley of Brown Toy Box and Stefan Miller of Young King Haircare, alongside Dr. Cher’Don Reynolds of She Prints It, anchored a conversation that peeled back the layers of what it really means to survive in today’s retail reality.
One of the most powerful reminders? Sometimes, the most transformative work doesn’t happen in
strategy decks or pitch meetings, but in your own warehouse. Working in your business, not just on it, can be as simple (and as powerful) as re-measuring your packaging, counting your units, or pulling old invoices. That’s where the real clarity lives.
Oversized shipping boxes quietly draining profit. Auto-renewed subscriptions you haven’t touched in months. Inventory sitting still, not because it’s needed, but because it’s been easy to ignore. That kind of self-check isn’t flashy. It doesn’t always feel visionary. But in this season, it’s how founders regain control, one decision, one dollar, one detail at a time.
Tariffs came up over and over again, not as theory, but as a hard-hitting financial reality. What emerged was a crash course in taking back control:
- Know your HTS (Harmonized Tariff Schedule) codes.
- Know what materials your products are made of.
- Understand your bills for materials and explore cheaper, tariff-friendly substitutes.
- Talk to your vendors and negotiate.
- File for refunds.
- Don’t assume you’re stuck. Audit your business and revisit your strategy.
The conversation around pricing was another masterclass in nuance. You can’t just raise prices and expect customers to stay. One founder broke down how they tested a price increase on their site. Conversion rates dropped, but overall profit went up. It was worth it. Others stopped selling single units and moved to multi-packs. Many cut out free samples and giveaways entirely. “Loyalty”, they said, “has to be mutual.” And if customers wanted to lock in old pricing? Subscription models were the new key. That was the message: this season requires strategy, not panic. Smart founders are making margin moves.
But perhaps the most sobering part of the conversation was around retail and what it feels like when the doors that flew open in 2020 started to quietly close. Dr. Cher’Don Reynolds didn’t sugarcoat it: “Immediately after the election, we had nearly a quarter million in sales that just disappeared.” No warning. No explanation. Just gone.
This wasn’t about poor product performance. Big retailers started backing away from their DEI commitments. The calls slowed. The energy faded. Purchase orders shrank. The moment had moved on.
Even the language is changing. Words like “diverse” and “equity” are being tiptoed around, softened, or removed entirely. The mission hasn’t changed, but the climate has. As one speaker put it, “We’re still doing the same work. We just might have to call it something else.”
It wasn’t said with resignation. It was said with resolve. This isn’t surrender. We adapt, we recalibrate, and we keep building.
And then came the part of the conversation that too often stays unspoken. The room turned toward boycotts and the uncomfortable truth about public support that doesn’t always translate to purchases. It’s one thing to post “support Black business.” It’s another thing to do it consistently, when it’s not trending, when it’s not easy. Specifically, around boycotts, the energy is often well-intentioned, but without a clear infrastructure that connects protest to purchasing power, the momentum falls flat. And in that gap, too many Black-owned businesses are overlooked, underfunded, or unintentionally harmed.
What we need is a collective commitment to back our values with receipts. If we’re serious about economic equity, we have to be just as bold about where our dollars go as we are about what we speak out against. That’s how we build something lasting. That’s how we make the support real.
So, what now? The founders in that room didn’t leave with all the answers, but they left with better questions. Are we testing often enough, or just assuming what used to work still does? Are we being honest about what’s adding value and what’s just adding noise? Have we become too reliant on one sales channel, or are we building with intentional diversification in mind? Are we taking care of the customers we already have? Are we inviting them into the conversation, into the process, into the why behind the decisions we make?
And maybe most importantly, are we building with both heart and data? Because in times like these, vision alone isn’t enough. Neither is strategy without soul. Founders are being called to do both: to test, to audit, to pivot, and to stay rooted in the purpose that started it all.
There may not be a perfect playbook for this moment. But in that room, there was clarity. There was accountability. And there was power in choosing to keep going with intention.
At RICE, we believe in making space for these conversations, not once a year, not when things hit crisis mode, but consistently. Because we know what the world doesn’t always acknowledge: that Black founders don’t just need capital. They need community. They need strategy. They need rooms that tell the truth and share the tools.
This is what we do. Not for the spotlight. For the survival. For the rebuild. For the people who are still here, still building, still showing up.
Even in this economy, our value is still full price.
To keep the momentum going, we’re hosting Beyond Survival: The Strategy Sessions on Monday, May 19th. This follow-up experience will provide tactical support for entrepreneurs facing today’s retail realities, covering everything from pricing for profitability under tariff pressure to navigating shifting buyer expectations. Join industry experts, retailers, and partners as we dive into strategies that prepare you for the next wave of consumer behavior and market evolution.
RSVP HERE to be in the room! Watch the video recap on IG to relive the experience with us.
