Minority & Small Business
Established in 1970
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Volume XLVIV • Number 22
‘City
of
Roses’
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • October 7, 2020
Committed to Cultural Diversity
‘We Know We Have a Future Here’
photo by d onovan s Mith /p ortland o bserver
High quality products draw customers old and new
to Cason’s Fine Meats, a Black-owned business that
has cemented new ties to the community from its new
location at the intersection Northeast Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street.
Casons serves up
a legacy of quality
photo by M ark W ashington /p ortland o bserver
Journeyman butcher Theotis Cason (right) and his assistant Barry Williams welcome customers to Cason’s Fine
Meats, the Black-owned retail store for locally-sourced high quality meats and hard-to-find Southern staples.
Casons is situated among other minority and women-owned businesses in the new Alberta Commons complex
at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street.
by d onovan s Mith
t he p ortland o bserver
After a year at his new location, Theotis Cason feels at
home.
The owner of the self-titled “Cason’s Fine Meats” took
a leap of faith, relocating his Kenton neighborhood-fa-
vorite business to the newly built Alberta Commons retail
space last year. The plaza, an effort to bring Black-cen-
tered commerce back into the heart of Northeast Portland,
is anchored by a mix of small and large retailers including
Champions Barbershop, greenHaus Boutique and Gallery,
as well as Wingstop and Natural Grocers among others.
Despite the coronavirus, which has shuttered dozens
of businesses throughout the city in recent months, Ca-
son says after in his new location that business has been
“decent.”
“The community’s been real supportive,” he says, not-
ing that a majority of his Kenton customers have followed
him up to his new location at the busy corner of Martin
Luther King Boulevard and Alberta Street. “We know that
we have a future here.”
Cason, and some of the other smaller retailers struck
C ontinued on p age 4