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No-chemical writing sets made of
100 percent banana/cigar paper
are available at Green Planet
Postal in Tempe, Ariz.
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s if overnight, environmental,
social and ethical decisions
about what we make,
sell, and buy has crept into
lexicons, factories, stores and homes,
as more and more consumers become
determined to make the world a better
place. It is not universal by a long shot,
but individuals, retailers, organizations
and companies are searching out
ways they can participate in what it
means to go green and meet increasing
consumer demand.
Many merchants are adding and/or
adapting eco-friendly merchandise to
their current inventory. Others are green
down to the bricks and mortar, and have been practicing
the green lifestyle for years.
Even shopping at Ecowise, Austin,
Texas, is a non-toxic experience.
Proprietor Amy Holland has been
practicing what she preaches at least
since opening the store in 1990. The
walls are painted with the zero VOC
(volatile organic compounds) that is a
top seller in her store. No carcinogenic
heavy preservatives or fungicides
here. “Some paints can ‘outgas’
for years,” Holland explained.
“And what’s the first thing people
do when expecting a new baby? Paint
the room! Our paint was developed
for hospital rooms.”
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A woman shops a Leanin’ Tree card display at
Green Planet Postal.
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A complete eco-wise inventory consists
of building materials and appliances,
green cleaning products, organic baby clothing,
cotton and hemp diapers, baby
products made with essential
oils, bedding options from recycled
or organic materials, and
one of the largest selections of
books in one spot on environmental
living. The Leanin’ Tree
card line messages are thought
provoking in terms of social
consciousness as well as being
made with recycled paper and
soy ink. A best selling gift item
is the Zen chimes alarm clock,
along with the books and beeswax candles.
When purchasing for the store, Holland’s intent is
to get people to think about what they are buying.
“Nothing is from China or cost prohibitive. I try to use
local, forward-thinking, and sustainable resources. An
example is award-winning Imagiplay puzzles using
nontoxic paint and replenishable wood.
Holland and her employees
do what they can to preserve
the environment. They recycle
all boxes, packaging and paper,
use low energy light bulbs and
rainwater collectors. Many
employees ride bikes to work,
are part of the Save Your Creek
program, and donate to
schools in area fundraisers. “If I
owned the building it would
have solar panels on the roof,”
Holland said.
The store generates $1 million
in annual earnings and Holland plans to stay in
for the long haul, though she worries that some are
just “green washing,” choosing to do something
because of demand to make a buck, not serious
change. “They label product to look healthy for people
and planet, not having anything to do with it, as some
name brand paint companies
do, yet carrying the
toxic paint at the same
time. Hopefully people are
educating themselves and
making serious changes
because our planet can’t
take it anymore.”
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Greg Chess, who owns Green Planet Postal with his wife
Pascha, photographed with the biodegradable packing peanuts
used at the store.
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Rather than construct a
new building from scratch
for the store, GuruBani
Whitney Khalsa, owner of
Nature Kids Mercantile in
Knoxville, Tenn., chose a 60-year-old structure and
brought it up to date, using recycled building materials,
natural or recycled units, and carpeting made from recycled
plastic. “We’re aware of how much of everything
we’re using, all products are made from reusable or recyclable
products, we don’t print multiple receipts to save
paper, recycle everything we possibly can and have very
minimal waste,” she said.
The only green store in
the city, Nature Kids
opened on Earth Day,
April 22, to avail customers
of all things environmentally
friendly or organically
produced. Khalsa handselected
all products, from
organic and natural cotton
towels, essential oil bath
products and insect repellents,
earth-friendly cleaning
products, local artisan
crafted glass, clay, and leather products, organic candies,
to top-selling cotton, linen, or bamboo, soy or clay dyed
clothing, cloth diapers and diapering products, and
books that educate on the environment. She knows
company owners, manufacturing sources and how far
products are shipped. “Merchandise sells so well
because if it’s produced outside a 200
mile radius of the store, it has to be
ordered online.”
Moreover, Khalsa is spreading
the word on green living, a style of
life she has practiced for the last 20
years, through classes on various natural
living topics including natural
parenting, cloth diapering and
breast-feeding.
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A shopper examines a product from the
Do Something line at an Indianapolis
Zoo gift store in Indianapolis, Ind. The
line includes planting kits for children,
books, toys, reusable grocery bags, cleaning
kits and other items.
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“It’s just a matter of time,” she
said, “for people to continue using
green products. A fad for some, as
more people become aware and
impact others, there’s a ripple effect,
and they’ll use them to make better
choices for the world.”
In general, there is a heightened
awareness, said Karen Burns, senior vice president for
external operations at the Indianapolis Zoo, in
Indiana. “And in particular, the zoo
audience is tuned to environmental
impact, looking for fair trade and
organically grown products.”
Those zoo visitors can find a
comprehensive selection of green
products at the two zoo shops,
including fair trade African artist
crafted wire animal sculptures made
from recycled materials, organic
apparel and best selling chocolates,
one brand promoting protection of
endangered species, the other, the
rain forests. As of the end of May,
zoo visitors are discovering twothirds
of the products in the White
Rivers Garden shop are eco-friendly,
from trees to apparel, grocery bags
and toys, with a portion of the price
donated to environmental causes.
The zoo is on its way to operating on a progressively
more green level, among other efforts, moving
toward becoming paperless, replacing incandescent
bulbs with CFLs, recycling paper, cardboard, batteries,
cell phones and aluminum, and using 100 percent of
the electricity through Indianapolis Power & Light
Company’s Green Power Option.
Burns reflected on the transition that began about
five years ago. “Green products at the zoo are here to
stay, though the
media will likely
move on to something
else down
the road and it
won’t continue to
dominate the front
page.”
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Customer Janis Buckner chooses
organic washcloths in the natural
bath and body products section of the
Nature Kids Mercantile store in
Knoxville, Tenn.
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Customers pick
up prescriptions
and other merchandise from the
Family Drug Store in Monticello,
N.Y., packaged in recycled paper
bags. “We also recycle bottles and
paper,” said Manager Holly Huebsch.
As to green products, the
store carries BearHands recycled
denim pocket and jean purses,
and BagWERKS bamboo handbags,
produced and dyed using
methods that are safe for the environment.
Huebsch hopes to
stock additional green products.
In the operation of the
Shenandoah National Park in
Luray, Va., Aramark has implemented
several energy saving
practices, said Charlotte Ahrens,
retail manager of concessions,
such as recycling all cardboard
shipping materials, providing
recycled merchandise tote bags,
and using energy saver light
bulbs.
The several park stores, which
earn $2 million in revenues, are
stocked with a variety of green
products, such as recycled materials apparel, cotton
and bamboo T-shirts, soy or recycled plastic bottle
socks, hand-crafted items such as wine bottle cheese
boards, Ecolips lip balm and sunscreen, and
BearHands recycled denim jean purses and duffle
backpacks.
Several of the 12 buyers for The Paper Store in
Acton, Mass., are testing out green product lines. Toy
buyer Karen McLeod recently added BearHands
purses for the kids.
Elsewhere in the
22-store chain, buyers
stock Bagallini
purses and ecofriendly
Yankee candle
options.
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Nature Kids Mercantile store owner
GuruBani Whitney Khalsa photographed
with soy dresses.
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“We’re looking
for vendors, highlighting
green products
in our search at trade
shows, but we don’t make a statement
in stores because our customers
aren’t there yet,” said
McCleod. She reported that recycling
bins for plastic and paper
are placed in the stores and in the
corporate offices, where the
frame of mind is toward more
green practices, and cardboard
and newspapers are recycled.
Former environmental scientist
Marilyn Walker has moved
on from studying the Alaskan
tundra to selling toys that are
carefully made to be environmentally
friendly. Her store, Play Fair
Toys, in Boulder, Colo., earns
$1.6 million in annual revenue.
The shop carries the Plan Toys
and Imagiplay lines. Both manufacture
toys from old rubber trees
no longer producing latex, getting
double usage, then applying
safe, non-toxic paints and stains.
Organic play dough from
Clementine art kits is safe if
eaten and any of the kits can be
refilled straight from the manufacturer.
Walker anticipates great success
from San Francisco-based Green Toys
sandbox and gardening sets, made
from recycled plastics.
Reusable bags are available for purchase
and those at the register are
soon to be made from post consumer
content. Several of Walker’s employees
ride bikes to work, paper is used
on both sides before recycling, and to
avoid excessive driving, the office and
warehouse locations are in process of
consolidation.
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Katie Buckner, visiting the Nature
Kids Mercantile shop with her
grandmother, looks at books on the
environment.
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“Green products have hit the mainstream,”
said Walker, “and what’s driving
it is real. It may be a fad to some
but it’s a new paradigm, and it’s great
that people are becoming aware.”
The packing materials available at
Green Planet Postal in Tempe, Ariz.,
will not sit around in a garbage dump
for hundreds of years, said owner Greg
Chess. “We did a lot of research to find
biodegradable bubble wrap and packing
peanuts, which don’t have the static
either. They’re our second best sellers
next to the 100 percent
banana/cigar paper writing sets, containing
no chemicals. One ton of
tobacco paper saves 17 trees in the
Amazon and a percentage of the paper
set sales goes to a scholarship fund to
train future leaders in sustainable practices
in Costa Rica.” Chess also carries
the post consumer Leanin’ Tree greeting
card line and other environmentally
sensitive packing materials such as
recyclable boxes, to promote he said, sane packing and
shipping rather than cutting down trees. Large volume
recycling bins are available in the store and Chess
accepts used cell phones and electronics that can be
recycled, safely disposed of, or sent to soldiers in Iraq.
Less than a year ago, Chess took over the packing
and shipping store, with the goal of being very environmentally
conscious in the mailing industry and
turning it green. “We’re changing everything in our
store over to our model. We’ve been interested a long
time in doing whatever possible to enhance quality of
life and have less impact on communities, so there’s
double value.”
Chess believes the consciousness of the population
as a whole is rising, yet has some reservations. “Most
recognize we can’t continue on the path we’ve been
on, would like to leave kids with a healthy planet, and
are acutely aware that every little step helps to reduce
carbon imprint. I’m frightened though, that it’s a commercial
movement rather than a people movement,
that it’s a corporate money making thing rather than
on an earth saving level.”
Still, increasing numbers of merchants are committed
to taking protection of the environment seriously,
and into their own hands.
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