In the middle of the 500 block of N. Chester Street in East Baltimore, half a block away from Northeast Market, sits Biddy’s TVs. The area has seen lots of changes since 2001 when Johns Hopkins Hospital partnered with the East Baltimore Development Initiative. The 20-year project acquired around 2,000 properties and 88 acres north of the hospital, but residential blocks like this one still remain.
It’s always a bit nostalgic for me coming back to the neighborhood. As a kid in the early ‘90s, between 4th and 7th grade, I lived right around the corner on McElderry Street. The building where Biddy’s TVs is now located was Stacy’s, a Black-owned convenience store that the owner named after his wife, Stacy. She would be in there managing the store almost every day of the week. Back then, I was told by my mother that it was rare to have a Black-owned business like Stacy’s in a Black neighborhood — by the ‘90s, most corner stores in Baltimore City were owned by Korean people. But, when she was growing up in the 1960s, the Black dollar stayed in Black neighborhoods because the businesses were owned by us. So, when I got caught stealing chips and cookies from Stacy’s, the lecture went deeper than just theft; it was the code of respect and appreciation for those providing everyday needs and access to groceries that I had violated.
Years later, Ivan “TVs Biddy” Baker stepped in after Stacy’s and kept that same energy alive when he opened up Biddy’s TVs. Biddy built his base from years of selling TVs, but the TVs were just the start. Today, he uses his charisma, authentic Baltimore sense of humor, and every part of his network to expand and grow other businesses…