Store owners at the African International Mall hope more customers will be drawn to their wares.

Photo by Cyn Collins

CEDAR-RIVERSIDE—Inside a gray, nondescript building on a West Bank side street is a vibrant marketplace filled with colorful treasures from East Africa, India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. A small white sign with red letters tells shoppers this is the African International Mall, also known as Kaa Mbo Market.

The mall, at 620 S. 16th Ave., just east of the new Bedlam Theatre space, has been open since January 2005. There are 41 businesses here, including clothing, jewelry and perfume, dish, and gift shops. Most of the services anyone might need are also here — hairdresser, barber, dry-cleaning, computer repair, money transfer, a dollar store, cell phone sales, furniture, rugs, bedding, religious and educational bookstore, coffee shop, a grocery store, a music store, and more. The shops are leased from owner Emad by East Africans, primarily Somali, as well as by Oromo and Ethiopians, and the shops are owned mostly by women. What’s lacking is consumer awareness that this place exists, as it’s relatively new and off the beaten path.

Emad, who also owns West Bank Grocery, says business is “going good. It will improve as more people know about it.”

He said he has plans to include an adult day care for senior citizens in the next year. He was inspired to open the mall because “the community wanted it,” adding, “We’d like more people to come in from all walks of life. It’s very beautiful and very unique. The West Bank is a good location. It’s a very diverse and dense community. We provide a large variety of goods and services for the community.”

Tailors and clothing designers are sewing in the halls and in the shops, and there’s a strong sense of community, as friends and families visit each other and help each other out.

Numerous goods, inexpensive and yet of high quality, pack the little shops, and walls are completely covered with several rows of deep-hued, finely woven and embroidered or patterned scarves, shawls and dresses. The innumerable beautiful scarves of silk, and of very soft Pashmina, a type of wool from India, are great bargains — ranging from $8 to $15, as are shawls, with the most expensive selling for $20.

In one shop I visited recently, a Somali woman was filling in for her sister, who owns the store but was working at her other job at the Hennepin County Medical Center as a nursing assistant. This shop is leased by the owner at $700 per month, including utilities.

The manager showed me the three pieces for a wedding dress: the diric, or dress; the garbasaar, or head-covering; and the googaro, or slip that is worn under the dress. The owner was inspired to run a shop by the women in her family. The diric is the most popular item in her store. “My grandmother and mother own a shop back home,” she said. “The older women like to stay busy. They don’t like to stay at home and not have enough to do.”

She talked a little about the changes in wearing the hijab (Muslim women’s traditional head-covering) as Somali women come to America: “I started to cover when I was 8,” she explained. “In America, some people stop wearing the hijab. We are the same as you, but still we cover. My belief is Muslim, but I respect you. There is no banishment here for not covering —some throw it out to be more American, and we understand that.”

She noted the shops are mostly frequented by women, because the Somali men go to other stores to buy American clothes and things.

But business has been slow, she and other shop owners said. They attribute part of the problem to the large mall on 24th and Elliot Avenue that is drawing more customers because it’s been there for six or seven years and more people know about it. Shop owners said they realize it takes two to three years for a business to become successful, and they are hopeful that more people learn of it when there is more advertising and word-of-mouth, and that business will pick up.

Loud, exuberant music containing elements of funk and hip-hop could be heard through the mall. I followed the sounds to the Cedar Sound Studio, a music store run by Bati, an Oromo. From him I learned of a few of the most popular musicians, such as Somali musician Hassan Aden Samatar, Ethiopian musician Tewodros Kasahun, and Kemer, the “King of Slow Jam,” from Oromia. Bati, also a recording producer and booker of musicians from near and far, tried to bring Kemer here to perform for New Year’s Eve, but the cost was too high.
Leedo Fashion, featuring “jewelry and beauty collections,” is owned by a charming young woman, Ayan. She showed me the items she carried with great delight. She pointed out the beautiful scarves from Pakistan and India. “I have beautiful matching shoes and purse, a booso,” she said.

Indeed they were beautiful, satin reds and golds and turquoise, perfect for elegant evening wear. There were pretty bangles (rows of thin bracelets attached together) for only $10. Intriguingly cool square bangles, are “the newest fashion,” she said. She showed me dressy ring, necklace and earring sets for only $20, and henna kits, a popular item. One of her most popular perfumes, Esraa, comes from Saudi Arabia and sells for only $20; another is from America, Jean Rene.

Ayan pulled out a a light, loose tunic-style dress in soft, high-quality cotton, with a funky combination of red and hot pink polka-dots on black—she challenged me to guess where it came from. “India?” I ventured. She playfully quipped, “You’re right! How did you know? You’re very good.”

She too, noted that business is slow, and she doesn’t make enough sales per month to meet the costs of the space, but hopes to within the next year. I came away with a beautiful burgundy beaded velvet hair tie, and the knowledge that I’d be back to explore more of the hidden treasures there and brighten up a cold, grey winter day.

last revised: July 25, 2007

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