Of Pride and Profit : Business: Spawned by a new wave of ethnic consciousness, mom-and-pop outlets for Afrocentric products are proliferating.

Shoppers browsing through the household appliance department of Sears in Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza these days will find, in the words of the retailer’s latest slogan, “a whole lot more” than refrigerators and stoves.

In a tiny space near the escalator, shoppers will find Jackie’s of California Afrotique, a new in-store boutique specializing in Afrocentric apparel and accessories. It is unaffiliated with Sears, however--Jackie Horn and her husband, Bob, who own and operate the boutique, merely rent space from the department store.

California Afrotique is among a burgeoning number of black-owned mom-and-pop businesses in Los Angeles that have been spawned by a new wave of ethnic consciousness.

Unlike the Horns, most merchandisers of Afrocentric products market them not at a major retail outlet but at special events such as fairs, conventions, and arts and crafts exhibitions.

The Horns sell mostly arts and crafts, apparel and accessories. Other small shops may carry traditional arts, sculptures, artifacts, books, prints and greeting cards.

And the number of vendors of Afrocentric products is growing. Marlene Henderson, a spokeswoman for Black Expo USA Inc., which promotes an annual series of two-day trade fairs in eight cities across the company, said the first such event, in New York two years ago, attracted 30,000 customers and about 200 vendors. About 50 of them sold Afrocentric products.

She said about 75,000 people attended the 1991 fair, and of 350 exhibitors, about 90 sold Afrocentric products. The expo, which made its first appearance in Los Angeles over the weekend of Nov. 2, attracted 35,000 people and more than 300 exhibitors, a third of whom sold Afrocentric products, she said.

The African Marketplace, sponsored each summer by Dorsey High School and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, attracted just four vendors when it was started in 1984. This summer, it drew 350 vendors, about 85% of whom sold Afrocentric products.

Some term the trend just a fad, a reincarnation of the Black Power movement of the 1960s when many African-Americans sported an Afro hairdo and owned a dashiki. Others say that although the market for Afrocentric products is relatively small, it’s here to stay.

“There always will be a market,” said Thelma Snuggs, a professor in the department of commercial sciences and retailing at Purdue University, referring to the trinkets, jewelry and items of clothing that constitute the bulk of the market. “Blackness is in.”

Harvard psychology professor Alvin F. Poussaint agrees. Several sociological factors have triggered the vogue and kept the momentum going, he said. Poussaint noted that although the Afrocentric movement has ebbed and flowed since the late ‘60s, “the (existence of an) African American studies department in many universities has kept the issue in front of everyone.”

In addition, Poussaint said, a combination of factors--such as usage of the term African-American, the anti-apartheid movement against South Africa, Nelson R. Mandela’s trip to the United States, rap music and an increasing numbers of black characters on television and in films--”are feeding a new kind of heightened respect for our cultural roots.”

Robert Jaeger, a professor of African-American studies and psychology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said that business people who want to specialize in Afrocentric products have been forced to come up with alternative methods of marketing, such as trade fairs and street sales.

“This new phenomenon might stem from the fact that after the ‘60s movement and the promise of a new society, African-Americans are still not able to take advantage of the opportunity America purports to offer,” Jaeger said.

Snuggs pointed out, for example, that many of these Afrocentric merchandisers stay small because they are unable to get the loans necessary to open up sizable retail outlets. Yet, if the trend really mushroomed, she said, big business--which is primarily white--would monopolize the market. “It has to do with economies of scale.”

On the other hand, Snuggs said, if these businesses were established in a mall, for example, their chances of success would increase dramatically. Such a move makes good economic sense because, for one thing, there is much more foot traffic. “Sole proprietorships cannot compete with this type of arrangement,” she said.

Based on their experience at the Baldwin Hills mall, the Horns concur. Bob Horn said, “It’s been phenomenal in terms of the response from the shopping public in the immediate community. We’ve seen a 35% growth.”

Another boutique, West Love Cultural Crafts, which sells African and ethnic clothing and accessories and original African art and sculptures, also started small. Debra, Jeri and Charles Hubbard and their sister and brother-in-law, Diane and Barry Shelton, began with a vending cart in the Fox Hills Mall. They now occupy a 1,000-square-foot store in that mall as well as a kiosk in the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

Like Crenshaw Plaza, Fox Hills primarily attracts black consumers, said Charles Hubbard, who called them “very receptive to the store’s presence.” He noted, however, that his clientele for African art tends to be white collectors.

West Love Cultural Crafts sold contemporary apparel when it opened in 1981, Debra Hubbard said, adding that family members switched to Afrocentric products about two years ago when they detected the trend. “Afrocentric, and indeed ethnic clothing and accessories, are hot numbers now,” she said.

She added: “Not just blacks but people in general are into ethnicity now. The trend is here to stay. Through it, people are becoming more knowledgeable about their culture.”

But Brian Breye, who owns and operates Museum in Black in Liemert Park, thinks the trend is a fad. “For those who are selling trinkets, it’s a profitable fad,” he said. Breye, whose store is crammed with traditional ceremonial masks, sculptures, musical instruments, utensils, Kente cloth and Moroccan rugs, among other things, has been in business since 1970. He said business has slacked off a bit recently because of the lackluster economy, but also because “there are so many dealers now, they are taking money from each other.”

Indeed, Alice Patrick of Marina del Rey operates her business, the Alice Patrick Gallery, from an old Volkswagen van. She sells limited-edition portraits of black activists such as Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X, as well as ones of musicians and other entertainers.

“People can’t afford originals now because of the poor economy,” she said. Patrick said that 15 years ago she produced a line of T-shirts bearing these same subjects. She tried to sell them to major department stores, she said, but they weren’t interested. “Now . . . they are all over the place.”

Patrick said she thinks the trend is here to stay, noting that she has been in the business “on and off” for 10 years.

So has fashion designer Betty Fenner of Shante & Fenner Originale Inc., a Studio City boutique. Fenner, a graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, teamed up with fellow alumna Darlene Jackson and Rahmle Michael Davis, a former trumpeter with the R&B; group Earth, Wind and Fire, to design and market an Afrocentric line of apparel, head wear and accessories.

Insisting that the trend will last, Fenner pointed to religious and ceremonial usages as a big influence. For example, Fenner said, the boutique’s line of Afrocentric fashions features hand-woven Kente cloth in items ranging from cummerbunds and bow ties to choir robes. And, she said, Afrocentric prints have been used to accessorize the haute couture lines of Yves Saint Laurent and Patrick Kelly, among others, testifying to its influence.

Costume designer Ceci, who works for the NBC sitcom “A Different World,” has a different perspective. She has dressed several of the show’s characters in Afrocentric apparel simply because she liked the fashion, she said. “I am fortunate that I’m working on a show where the principals are black. I get a lot of feedback from people who watch the show, saying it’s a positive influence.”

And actor Meshach Taylor, of the TV hit “Designing Women,” also said he likes the colors and natural fabrics. “I like European classics accessorized with Afrocentric materials,” Taylor said. “It’s appropriate for who we are. For me, it’s not about making a political statement. I just like the style.”

Ceci said that though the Afrocentric trend is good for the black economic base, she has problems with attempts to mass market the products. “Now we even have Kente cloth from Korea,” she said. “Why do we have to wait to see it mass marketed before we see it as hip?”