The warmth of a mother’s love can be felt as soon as you enter the shop at 2100 E. 71st St. in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. The address is the site of Mama Africa’s Marketplace, a community staple where you can buy African garbs, shea butter and black soap. It also serves as a third space for community members to gather for various events like open mics or book signings.
“One of the things that has always brought me joy as a kid — and made me feel proud and beautiful — was Africa,” Mama Africa’s owner, Lakiesha Ifarinu Williams, 42, told The TRiiBE about her inspiration to open the shop. “The clothes, seeing it on television, Black History Month, dance classes, like, [Africa] was always a thing that made me feel good.”
Williams is preparing to close up shop on the 71st Street corridor, where Mama Africa’s has sat since opening in 2021. Having raised over $25,000 on GoFundMe since Dec. 28, Williams is still looking to garner support to stay in the South Shore community. At publishing time, Williams said she needs to raise $100,000 in cash to be able to secure loans to purchase the property.
Williams said she has to move by Jan. 23 if she does not raise enough to purchase the property. She recently posted a video asking for the Obama Foundation to support her efforts to stay in the space. As the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) gears up to open in June, areas surrounding the development, such as South Shore, are facing threats of displacement due to rising property taxes and outside developers looking to capitalize off the OPC.
Williams said she learned of the shop’s fate back in December, when the current property owner alerted her that he was going to sell the building when he received an offer from someone interested in purchasing. Originally, Williams said she was told she would have to leave the property before the new year.
According to Williams, the property would be sold to Eli Williamson, a South Shore native, if she does not raise the money to buy it herself. Online real estate marketplace Zillow has the property listed “off market” and valued at $1.4 million. Williams told The TRiiBE that the current property owner is selling it to Williamson for $550,000.
Williamson plans to use the property for his nonprofit, Leave No Veteran Behind, according to Williams. In a 2025 interview with the nonprofit-based South Shore Drive Magazine, Williamson, who is a Black military veteran, spoke about his nonprofit work and the importance of being a mentor to young Black men in this digital age.
“Men who don’t know their worth are easily judged by others and by themselves,” Williamson told the magazine. “If you don’t learn and grow, you’ll be used by society. That’s why I tell young men to get back to the basics—learn skills, stay grounded, and stop letting the internet define your identity.”
Williams said she was shocked when she learned it was Williamson who was buying the property. She knows him as a member of the community and he didn’t inform her.
After this story published, Williamson told The TRiiBE that he was interested in purchasing the property “to make sure that it stays within the community.”
In a statement sent by text message, Williamson said, “The current tenant lease was not renewed under the current owner in 2025. LNVB [Leave No Veteran Behind] is not the current owner. This property needs extensive updates and repair which requires the building to be vacant while those repairs are completed.”
Although Williams is the biological mother of four children, “Mama” is the name she has embraced from those who frequent the shop. Providing youth employment opportunities, Mama Africa’s has also become a place where youth organizers meet for their events. While Williams helped organize an open mic inside the space on Jan. 16, the store’s phone rang off the hook. The youth greeted Williams with what could only be described as love.
“I have young people that are able to come here and work; most of them are artists. They are really dope young people. I would say probably 75% of them are artists,” Williams said. “Most of them live right here in South Shore. We got a couple of other rough ones, you know, the ones that really needed our TLC over the years.”
When the shop opened in 2021, people began reaching out to sell their products, which is how the marketplace concept came to be. Hosting events came into the picture soon after.
“People were coming into town. They wanted to do a book signing. Then we started doing meditations. My girlfriend had the meditation pyramid room. And then we had somebody come in and start doing yoga,” Williams said. “Then we started doing peace circles. And then people started wanting to do things. Then we kind of became, like, this community healing center.”
When she moved into the space, Williams said the owner only charged her $700 for the 4,000-square-foot space, which she admits was a bargain. Rent eventually increased to $1,100, but Williams gave praise to the current property owner, who she said was a big help in her growth as a community space. She understands his decision to sell due to the increase in property taxes in the South Shore area with the forthcoming Obama Center.
“This man has literally been a blessing. I would not had known I had a Mama Africa in me. I didn’t have the proper credit or money for inventory,” Williams said. “Because he allowed me to be here, because he didn’t charge me an arm and a leg for rent, because he could have went up when he saw that I was doing business, he could have tried to go up. He didn’t do that.”
Williams’ 20-year-old daughter, Asia Williams, said she is proud of the impact her mom’s business has had on the community. “When we first got here, they used to be selling drugs on the corner all the time,” the younger Williams said. “She got over here, she was like, ‘Look, y’all not gonna be selling these drugs over here.’”
Though the news of the potential closure is hurtful, her daughter said she believes in her mom’s resilience.
“I know leaving this space is probably definitely going to be devastating for her, but I feel like she’s a strong woman,” Williams’ daughter said. “Everything that she does comes out of a place of love for everybody, like, not even just herself. She literally puts everybody else before herself.”
Although she is saddened by the potential displacement from the 71st Street property, Williams remains hopeful and grounded in what is to come next.
“I believe in miracles, so that’s why I can be happy,” Williams said. “And it’s not, like, a happiness, but it’s just understanding that no matter what happens, the same way I came to this space, I know something else is there. When one door closes, another door opens.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Eli Williamson does not currently own the building 2100 E. 71st St.
