One-of-a-kind Oakland furniture store Uhuru to close after 34 years

A treasured Oakland furniture store known for offering some of the best deals in the Bay Area is permanently closing on Oct. 22 after 34 years in operation. 

Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles on Grand Avenue announced the news in an Instagram post over the weekend — that both of its stores run by the African People’s Education and Defense Fund in Oakland and Philadelphia would shutter. The East Coast location had been open for 29 years. 

“We have been through many ups and downs, but now we are facing a situation where the U.S. economy is in a crisis,” a full statement on Uhuru’s website read. “Throughout the U.S., small businesses and large corporations alike are closing their stores. Skyrocketing rents, rising prices of gas, food and goods across the board have created untenable conditions, especially for African, Indigenous, Mexican and Puerto Rican communities in the U.S.”

Jeanine Griswa, who has been working as an assistant manager at Uhuru’s Oakland store for the past 32 years, said that staff began to consider the difficult decision several weeks ago, ultimately determining that running the store was no longer viable. Griswa noted that while the APEDF as a national nonprofit has been “growing rapidly,” the expenses of operating the Grand Avenue store that buoyed it for so long “are skyrocketing to the point where it’s not a fundraiser anymore.”

“Uhuru Furniture has been a historical landmark, essentially,” Griswa said. “Despite the fact that it’s a community center, saves furniture from the landfill, and has provided furniture to literally hundreds of thousands of people over the years, it just can’t continue to cost the nonprofit money.” 

Since the 1980s, Uhuru Furniture has offered free furniture donation pickups throughout the Bay Area and resold vintage and one-of-a-kind pieces of gently used furniture and housewares to benefit Black self-determination programs through APEDF, in addition to providing volunteer and job training opportunities. Over the years, the store was repeatedly selected as a readers’ pick in the East Bay Express and Oakland Magazine for “Best Furniture Store.” 

“You come in, and trucks are loading and unloading constantly, people are bustling around everywhere,” Griswa said. “Multiple generations of families shop here regularly, and it’s a happening place. So people are just in shock, they’re devastated — they say they’ve been coming here for years, and if our store can’t make it in this economy, who can?”

In its statement, Uhuru Furniture cited the gentrification of Oakland’s historic African community, the loss of supplemental SNAP benefits in Philadelphia earlier in March, and other mounting economic challenges as some of the reasons for its closures, which “made it impossible for the Uhuru Furniture stores to absorb rising expenses, provide sustainable wages for employees and keep our furniture at affordable prices.” Griswa said some of Uhuru’s 15 employees have had to commute as far as an hour to the store for work because they could no longer afford to live in the Bay Area.

“The cost of insurance, the cost of being a Black-owned small business, it’s prohibitive,” Griswa said. “And the economy can’t charge more for furniture – people won’t pay for it.” 

Over a dozen customers commented on Uhuru’s Instagram post, stating they were “heartbroken” by the closure. “This is so sad to hear,” one of them wrote. “Oakland is losing something special, damn.” Some wondered if a crowdfunding campaign could save the store at the final hour.

“But there isn’t a one-time fundraiser that could make it so the model could work in this economy,” Griswa said. “It could delay the inevitable, but unless that’s going to be a permanent, ongoing phenomenon, it’s not solving the problem.” 

In the weeks leading up to the closure, Uhuru asked that customers continue to support APEDF’s efforts by donating directly to its website or by joining its volunteer efforts; the nonprofit is also selling Uhuru pies for the holiday season. People can still donate furniture through October 15 and shop in person and online until the closure date. 

“Our goal is to close in the black and raise $5,000 for our nonprofit programs by the time we close,” Griswa said. “We also want people to send in their stories. Our website isn’t going away.” 

APEDF will also continue to run the Uhuru house, a community center in East Oakland, and Akwaaba Hall on MacArthur Boulevard, a low cost venue that can be rented out for weddings, funerals and other events.

“We consider it a victory for these Black-owned institutions to have made it for over three decades through conditions that normally keep our community out of the economic arena,” Uhuru said in its statement, noting APEDF’s national efforts will continue to expand through the Black Power Blueprint programs in St. Louis, Missouri, which include an African farmer’s market and community garden, basketball court, doula training program and women’s health center. 

Uhuru is open Wednesday-Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Visit their website.