MARTINSVILLE, Va. – A local bookstore owner is getting way more attention than she ever imagined after a tweet about her business.
On Tuesday, Deshanta Hairston tweeted that from now on, she’ll promote the fact that her bookstore is a black-owned business.
Can you imagine, I refrained from putting black owned in my bio for years in fear of losing out on potential white customers? Well I am indeed black and this is my store and I will be screaming it from the mountain tops moving forward 🗣🗣🗣
— Black Owned Bookstore (@BooksNCrannies_) June 2, 2020
She said she had been hesitant for fear of losing customers, but with everything going on around the country right now, she wanted to help people understand what being a black business owner is like.
Just shy of 2 a.m. on Thursday, the tweet had been liked more than 309,000 times and retweeted more than 43,000 times.
“I feel like if more black people could speak on their experience and just get the conversation started, just give your personal experience, it gives people a better understanding of why we feel the way that we do," said Hairston.
She says she now has more online orders coming in than she’s ever had and her followers have gone from about 150 to over 32,000.