Black-Owned Businesses in Dayton to Support in 2026

A Trinidadian kitchen doing jerk chicken and oxtails, a full-service grocery store on the Salem Avenue corridor, a coffeehouse and wine bar downtown, a natural hair salon that is also a boutique, a fine art gallery, and a cigar lounge in the Wright Dunbar district. Dayton's record here is 27 listings, and it is unusually well balanced between eating, shopping and getting things done.

Every business named here links to its profile, where the ownership tag shows the source it came from. For the whole set, filter the Dayton hub.

Quick answer

1. Eat Caribbean at Agnes Eats.
2. Do the weekly shop at Gem City Market on the Salem Avenue corridor.
3. Get coffee, or a glass of wine, at Third Perk Coffeehouse & Wine Bar.
4. Book natural hair care at Puff Apothecary, or lashes at Beaute Box.
5. See work at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery.
6. Cater the party through Divine Catering & Events or Rich Taste Catering, and hold it at the White House Event Center.
7. Sort the office IT with N-Ovation Technology Group.
8. The Dayton hub carries all 27 listings across 10 categories.

Where should I eat and drink?

Agnes Eats cooks Trinidadian and Caribbean food, jerk chicken and oxtails, with brown sugar lemonade to go with it. Third Perk Coffeehouse & Wine Bar is the daytime and evening room in one. Choice Juice Boxx presses juice, and Sweet P's Handcrafted Ice Pops makes ice pops from local produce.

Gem City Market matters more than a single listing usually does: it is a full-service grocery store and deli on the Salem Avenue corridor, just across the bridge from downtown, in a part of the city that had no grocery for years.

For catering, Divine Catering & Events takes orders by email and keeps it simple, and RFFG Marketplace & Rich Taste Catering cooks and provisions.

Who cuts hair, and who does skin?

Puff Apothecary is a natural hair salon and boutique in the city. Beaute Box does lashes, and asks you to arrive without mascara. JQ Beauty Spa is a licensed esthetician doing facials, waxing and dermaplaning out in Beavercreek. Secret Beauty Hats & Boutique sells hats, including a Kentucky Derby collection.

What should I wear, and what should I hang?

After5 and Dourj The Fashion Stylist work opposite sides of the same problem: one sells the clothes, the other teaches you how to wear what you already own. SDorje-Chang Designs is a fashion design and art brand, and Mama Aswan curates what you need.

On the walls, the Edward A. Dixon Gallery shows fine art, and Art Has No Rules works across the arts. Denise Danielle Photography and Shutter Eye Photo shoot portraits and weddings.

Business, health and the practical stuff

N-Ovation Technology Group does managed IT and custom solutions. Infinite Management Solutions advises senior leadership on organizational change. PWilkinson Law LLC works injury claims. Anointed Touch CPR teaches CPR and first aid, which is the kind of thing every workplace on this list eventually needs.

Present Tense Fitness coaches strength and conditioning for dancers and athletes. Wright Dunbar Cigar Shoppe & Lounge is the room to sit in afterward, and the White House Event Center is the downtown venue for small and mid-size events.

What the record does not cover yet

There are 27 published listings, and all 27 are filed in Dayton itself. Kettering, Beavercreek, Huber Heights, Fairborn, Centerville, Miamisburg, Xenia, Springboro, Vandalia, Trotwood, Riverside, Englewood, Oakwood, West Carrollton, Moraine, Tipp City, Troy, Piqua, Clayton, Brookville, Germantown, New Lebanon, Union and Bellbrook have none yet, and at least one business on this list actually works out of Beavercreek even though the record files it in the city.

By type, the Miami Valley record has no contractor, no plumber, no auto shop, no real estate agent and no accountant. That is a gap in the record rather than a description of Dayton, and a free listing is the way to close it.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a suburb is covered. Everything here is filed in Dayton proper, so check the address on the listing before driving out to Kettering or Troy.
• Treating a caterer as a restaurant. Several of the strongest food businesses here cook for events and have no dining room.
• Booking a beauty appointment without reading the prep. Lash and skin work here come with instructions about what to arrive without.
• Looking only at food and beauty. IT, consulting, law and CPR training are all in this record and are the parts a visitor guide never lists.

FAQ