Walking into Bread Stuy on Lewis Avenue was more than just delicious banana bread. It was the warm smile on Lloyd's face when you walked through the door. He and his wife, Hillary, created a community oasis. When he was closing down his first of many businesses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, he gifted me a fireplace that I held in my backyard until I, too, was displaced.
For me, Lloyd represented a resilience of Black business. Bread Stuy became Bread Love. I would go to visit him at his Stuyvesant Avenue location, then at Rockaway and finally at Patchen Avenue. No matter how many times he started over, his smile with customers never waned.
It's the same warmth I get when I visit:
Harriets By Hekima, Life Wellness, Brown Butter, BedVyne on Tompkins;
