We love that Owa’s Afrikan Market on Myrtle Avenue is part of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum‘s fun, educational permanent exhibit, World Brooklyn. The World Brooklyn exhibit consists of a maze of kid-sized shops, modeled after real Brooklyn businesses, each containing a fun activity.  At the Owa exhibit, kids learn about adinkra symbols, pretend to tally the cost of items at the cash register and use paper and pencil to explore the shapes of wooden mask carvings.

The real Owa Afrikan Market store is located at 434 Myrtle Avenue between Clinton and Waverly Avenues.  The store is a go-to haven for textiles, gifts, art and crafts, imported food, musical instruments, music, books, movies (DVDs), wood carvings and so much more from West Africa.  Stop in to pick up any number of wonderful items, including a wonderful collection of Nollywood (film from Nigeria) and Gollywood (film from Ghana) film on DVD, t-shirts and palm wine to accompany a lovely meal at home.  Owa Afrikan Market opened its doors on Myrtle Avenue 20 years ago to address the needs of customers living in New York City seeking authentic clothing and crafts from Africa.  In fact, the word ‘Owa’ means home in the Edo language.

Owa Afrikan Market is located at 434 Myrtle Avenue between Clinton and Waverly Avenues.

photo credit: Brooklyn Children’s Museum