A national retail account can put an emerging consumer brand in front of shoppers that direct-to-consumer sales may not reach. It can help customers discover a founder’s product, move a company beyond social media growth and create a path to repeat purchases at scale.
For Black-owned and Black-founded brands, that opportunity drew new attention after 2020, when companies such as Target announced commitments tied to Black-owned suppliers and campaigns such as the Fifteen Percent Pledge pushed major retailers to reconsider who gets shelf space.
The opportunity has not disappeared. But public DEI pullbacks, boycott pressure and the cost of serving big-box accounts have made the calculation more complicated for some founders.
The Lip Bar, founded by Melissa Butler, shows one version of that shift. The Detroit-based beauty company began as a direct-to-consumer brand, entered Target in 2018 and says it now sells through more than 2,000 stores, including more than 1,000 Target stores, 600 Walmart stores, more than 100 CVS stores, Meijer, Amazon and its Detroit flagship, according to the company’s history ↗. Beauty Independent reported in October 2025 that The Lip Bar expected total sales to rise 40% even as Target sales were down roughly 30% to 40%, with dot-com sales projected to rise 150%, according to Beauty Independent ↗.
The practical takeaway for many consumer founders is that retail can remain valuable, but dependence on one major account can leave a brand exposed when traffic, shelf strategy or public sentiment changes.
Retail access gained new attention after 2020
After George Floyd’s murder, major retailers faced increased scrutiny over opportunities for Black-owned businesses. Target became one of the most visible examples. In 2021, the company announced a commitment to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses by the end of 2025, add products from more than 500 Black-owned companies and create support resources such as Forward Founders, according to Target ↗.
The Fifteen Percent Pledge, launched as an accountability campaign urging companies to dedicate 15% of shelf space to Black-owned brands, also pushed retailers and consumers to think differently about assortment. The organization says it has more than 35 corporate partners and has shifted almost $14 billion in revenue to Black-owned businesses, according to its website ↗. Those are self-reported figures, but they show how retail accountability became part of the broader Black business conversation.
For founders, national retail can reduce discovery friction. Young King Hair Care, founded by Cora and Stefan Miller to serve Black and Brown boys, announced in 2021 that it had moved from DTC into more than 1,200 Target and Walmart stores within its first year, according to a company release ↗. The brand’s FAQ says it is available through DTC, Amazon subscriptions and Target and Walmart stores, according to Young King Hair Care ↗.
The Honey Pot shows why ownership language matters as brands scale. Compass Diversified completed its partnership with The Honey Pot in 2024 at a $380 million enterprise value, with co-founders and management retaining a significant minority stake, according to Compass Diversified ↗. Compass said Beatrice Dixon would remain co-founder, CEO and chief innovation officer. Based on that disclosed ownership structure, The Honey Pot is best described as Black-founded and Black-led, not as a majority Black-owned example.
Related BlackBizDaily.com coverage: [Black-owned beauty brands and retail growth](/black-owned-beauty-brands-retail-growth/), [DEI rollbacks and small business risk](/dei-rollbacks-small-business-impact/) and [the Black consumer market](/black-consumer-market-spending-power/).
DEI pullbacks changed the conversation
The retail environment shifted again as companies revised or ended DEI-linked programs amid public and political pressure.
Walmart confirmed in 2024 that it would no longer use race and gender as a “litmus test” to improve diversity in supplier contracts, while saying its U.S. businesses sourced more than $13 billion in goods and services from diverse suppliers in fiscal 2024, according to The Associated Press ↗.
Target announced in January 2025 that it would conclude its three-year DEI goals, conclude REACH in 2025 as planned, stop external diversity-focused surveys and change “Supplier Diversity” to “Supplier Engagement.” In an updated fact sheet, Target said it fulfilled its $2 billion Black-owned business commitment, according to the company ↗.
Those corporate statements do not show that individual Black-owned brands were removed because of race or because of DEI rollbacks. Retail decisions can turn on sales, margins, inventory performance and category strategy. Still, public changes to DEI commitments have made some founders’ relationships with large retailers more visible to customers.
Target’s changes sparked boycott calls. AP reported that some Black-owned brand founders with products in Target warned that a broad boycott could hurt their businesses because weak sell-through can affect whether products remain on shelves, according to AP ↗.
That is the bind. A consumer protest aimed at a retailer can become a sales problem for the Black-owned brands some consumers want to defend.
Founders are weighing different paths
Not every brand will make the same decision.
Danielle Coke Balfour, founder of Oh Happy Dani, posted that the brand had begun removing remaining products from Target shelves after the retailer’s DEI shift, according to her LinkedIn update ↗. Pound Cake co-founders Camille Bell and Johnny Velazquez told AP they did not think they would accept a Target stocking opportunity at this point, according to AP ↗.
Other founders view the decision through the economics of stocked inventory, purchase orders and retail commitments. AP reported that Play Pits founder Chantel Powell described calls for Black brands to pull out of existing retailers as unrealistic, according to AP ↗. For brands already on shelves, a sudden exit can create practical problems, including unsold inventory and lost access to a sales channel.
The Lip Bar’s reported numbers point to another option: stay in major retail, but reduce dependence on any single partner. A brand can still value Target, Walmart or Amazon while building enough DTC, marketplace, specialty, local and wholesale revenue to withstand a reset, a boycott or a buyer change.
Shelf space is not free money
The current debate often focuses on values and visibility. Operators also have to manage working capital.
Wholesale can look attractive when DTC customer-acquisition costs rise. Retail Dive reported that DTC brands have moved toward wholesale as social customer-acquisition costs increased, venture funding slowed and fulfillment costs rose, according to Retail Dive ↗. But large retail orders can require brands to finance production, packaging, freight and compliance before cash comes back.
Modern Retail reported that some DTC brands still avoid wholesale because retail expansion requires upfront cash to fulfill large orders, marketing spend to drive shoppers to shelves and continued DTC strength to diversify revenue, according to Modern Retail ↗.
That can matter most for founders with limited room for error. A national purchase order can stretch cash reserves if the brand has to fund inventory, brokers, field support, promotions and paid marketing before sell-through proves itself.
The buyer meeting is only the beginning. The harder question is whether the company can profitably support the shelf after launch.
Retailers are still investing in beauty
The opportunity has not disappeared. Large retailers continue to invest in beauty, discovery and emerging brands, though strategies vary by company.
Ulta Beauty and Target announced in August 2025 that they would not renew the Ulta Beauty at Target shop-in-shop partnership when it concludes in August 2026, according to Ulta ↗. Target later said Target Beauty Studio is scheduled to launch Sept. 10, 2026, in more than 600 stores and on Target.com with 90 prestige, emerging and global brands and more than 1,600 products, according to Target ↗.
Walmart also has been investing in beauty service and discovery. AP reported in April 2026 that Walmart planned to put beauty experts in more than 400 U.S. stores by year-end, according to AP ↗.
For Black-owned and Black-founded beauty and personal care brands, that means the door is not closed. It does mean founders may need clearer terms, stronger channel discipline and fewer assumptions about retailer loyalty.
The emerging question is not simply “retail or no retail.” It is how much control a brand can keep while using retail to grow.
Founders need to ask how much revenue one retailer can safely control. They need to know whether the retailer offers discovery, data, merchandising support and fair payment terms, or mostly shelf space. They need to decide what products belong on DTC, Amazon, mass retail, specialty retail, local wholesale and owned stores.
They also need a communications plan. If customers object to a retailer’s public stance, the founder must explain whether staying protects the company’s survival, whether leaving protects community trust, or whether the brand can redirect shoppers to other channels.
For Black-owned and Black-founded brands, the stakes include more than distribution. Many have built customer relationships around cultural understanding, trust and service to shoppers who felt overlooked by mainstream retail. A retailer can amplify that relationship. It also can complicate it.
The next retail milestone may not be getting on every shelf. It may be building a company diversified enough that no single shelf decides its future.