BRIGHTON PARK Compiled by Jocelyn Vega Neighborhood Captain JOCELYN VEGA
B
righton Park’s commercial strip, starting at South Brighton Place and South Archer Avenue and continuing southwest down Archer, can easily be overlooked as just another street of unfamiliar businesses you drive by. But if you pull over and step closer, you’ll find a series of unique shops. Once you step inside, you can see the time and effort behind each place. Brighton Park sits on the shoulder of Chicago’s Southwest Side, a convening of autonomous and cultural economies: blocks of small Latinx and Mexican-owned businesses. Brighton Park is also a shoulder lifting local livelihoods, a neighborhood that is shouldering a pandemic economy. When the city completely shut down earlier this year, shop owners echoed the importance of your time, purchases, and recommendations to the people you know. They shared how online shopping, big box stores, and even regional chains had soaked up customers before they reached their door. Flower shop owner Baldemar Galindo stressed how a community leader like Martin Luther King Jr. is needed at this moment. For him, the absence of a leader is deeply felt. He explained that Chicago needs someone to defend the autonomy of small shops against the growing trend of one-stop national and regional chains—dead ends in our communities. He explained that over time, big box stores keep providing more: liquor, flowers, cooked food, housing goods, and more, all under one roof. He’s concerned that more people go straight to those establishments and stay there. He
hopes people remember a dollar’s local impact. The shop owners and street vendors I spoke to on Archer stressed that their businesses aren’t reinvesting profits—simply keeping their doors open is the current stressor. They shared that their businesses represent their entire livelihood, their life, and their pride in generational practices. Many worked in these family-owned stores as children, and many felt that nothing else was meant for them. But in these times, without more business, they fear losing everything. The shops lined up on Archer represent more than business names—they carry the years of experiences it took for business owners to reach this point in their careers. Some started their craft as a kid; others started “desde mi tierra” (it started since my land), referring to how they started saving save up for their front door’s opening day. If you’re willing, I invite you to spark conversations in these shops and listen to shopkeepers’ thoughts and advice. When you visit shops, you can see how shops are actually homes. Shopping local means directly supporting the artisans and curators: families, generations, and community members. It’s hard to not have a conversation when you recognize workers and shop owners as part of the community. ( Jocelyn Vega) Neighborhood Captain Jocelyn Vega is a first-generation Latina and contributing editor to the Weekly NOVEMBER 25, 2020 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 25
