Diverse-Owned Businesses in Durham to Support in 2026

A specialty coffee shop with rooms in Durham and Raleigh, a home bakery, a locksmith who also sells safes, a mechanic with 20 years on the bench, a queer and women-owned repair garage, a landscape architecture studio working on campuses and hospitals, and a wine brand made for Black women who drink wine. Durham's record here is 22 listings and it is more useful than its size suggests.

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

Quick answer

1. Get coffee at Narrative Coffee Company.
2. Order from Chez Moi, the home-based specialty bakery.
3. Season with King's Pepper, which uses no salt, peanut or MSG.
4. Pour HERitage Wine.
5. Take the car to Uncles Auto Shop or Fluid Community Garage.
6. Call A1 Lock & Safe when you are locked out in Durham or Chapel Hill.
7. Book a class with The 360 Approach, in studio, outside or online.
8. The Durham hub carries all 22 listings across nine categories.

Eating, drinking and stocking the kitchen

Narrative Coffee Company is the specialty coffee shop, with rooms in Durham and Raleigh. Chez Moi bakes to order from a home kitchen in the city. King's Pepper makes a seasoning with no salt, peanut or MSG in it and no gluten, which is a short list of things most sauces cannot claim. HERitage Wine is a wine brand made by and for Black women. Little Homestead Farm makes soap, bath bombs, sugar scrubs, body butters and laundry powder.

The practical half

A1 Lock & Safe covers Durham and Chapel Hill and keeps new and used safes in stock. Uncles Auto Shop has more than 20 years of experience across its mechanics. Fluid Community Garage is a women and queer-owned automotive repair shop, which is rare enough anywhere to be worth the drive. Alston Transport in Chapel Hill hauls aggregates and excavation debris.

Surface 678 is a landscape architecture studio headquartered here, working on academic, healthcare and corporate projects, and is a certified minority business enterprise.

Hair, skin and staying well

Sherry Mims has been a licensed hairstylist and salon owner for more than 20 years, and Tianitia Davis works from the same Salon Lofts. Great Skin Health is an esthetician of nearly 20 years specializing in anti-aging and challenged skin. Dr. John Wardsworth Dentistry does general dental care. The 360 Approach runs group classes in the studio, outdoors and online.

Law, consulting and the funding

Three family law firms in this record describe themselves as serving LGBT clients and carry a welcoming business tag rather than an ownership tag: Ellis Family Law works family law and estate planning across the Triangle, and NicholsonPham describes itself as LGBT-focused, covering divorce, custody, adoption and surrogacy.

On the business side, Giarc Consulting and ezTagile both consult, Strategic Evaluations helps academic institutions and nonprofits win and sustain research grants, and Our Investors works on real estate investment and development. For a party, Bouncin' Baye Inflatables rents bounce houses in Durham and Cary.

What the record does not cover yet

There are 22 published listings: 21 in Durham and one in Chapel Hill. Carrboro, Hillsborough, Roxboro, Pittsboro, Siler City, Bahama, Rougemont, Timberlake, Efland, Cedar Grove, Moncure and Research Triangle Park have none yet.

By type, the gaps are the ordinary ones: three restaurants, no barbershop, no general contractor, no plumber, no electrician and no accountant. That is a gap in the record rather than a description of Durham. Note also that the neighboring Raleigh hub covers the eastern half of the Triangle, so a Cary or Apex business belongs there rather than here. A free listing puts you on whichever is right.

Common mistakes

• Reading every tag as ownership. Several listings here carry a welcoming business tag, which describes how a firm says it serves clients. Ownership tags are separate and each listing shows which it holds.
• Expecting a storefront bakery. The bakery on this list works from a home kitchen and takes orders.
• Assuming Durham and Raleigh are one hub. They are two, and a business in Cary, Apex or Wake Forest sits on the Raleigh side.
• Missing the garage. Automotive repair almost never appears in a directory like this, and there are two here.

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