About Oakland Unwrapped

Oakland Unwrapped is an Online Marketplace where shoppers can find and buy directly from Oakland-owned independent businesses and artists. In 2008, Oakland Unwrapped became a program of OneCalifornia Foundation, a nonprofit economic development organization in downtown Oakland. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about the site or any of the foundations' programs.

The Oakland Unwrapped team strongly believes that conscious and ethical shopping by individuals can create and sustain economic development and neighborhood revitalization in our communities. By providing a fun and easy-to-use shopping website, we can be a catalyst for this powerful method of community support.

Scalable, Sustainable, Locally-owned
While we are starting in our own community -- Oakland -- we will expand rapidly to help transform the economies of other communities throughout California and beyond. In every Unwrapped! location, the merchants and artists in that community will eventually become owners of their Unwrapped! co-op.

Filling A Critical Void in Small Business Development
Oakland Unwrapped Marketplace program is approaching small business development from the consumer (demand) side, providing a necessary element of small business development that is currently missing from most economic development strategies.

Current strategies focus on the business (supply) side of the market, funding organizations and agencies that provide training and financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs. We augment these strategies by bringing customers to these strengthened businesses and entrepreneurs.