Report: Whole Foods West Hollywood Lifestyle Store
by Kyeann Sayer, Nomad on 11.14.05
We recently filled you in on Whole Foods' plan to open a lifestyle store in West Hollywood. None of us has checked it out yet, but tipster Erica was kind enough to investigate.
Clothing and accessories: "About half of the store is clothing - an decent selection of baby clothes (organic fabrics), tees, pants, jeans, handbags, even a few dresses. Most of it seems to be organic cotton and hemp; some of it is fair traded without green raw materials. They have a lot of companies represented including Gaiam (clothes and bedding), Ecolution (hemp bags), World of Good, many many others. There are some nifty handbags made out of recycled newspaper, old flip-top soda bottle caps, and soda can flip-tabs. The jewelry section is unimpressive; very hippy-dippy and not at all what styling Angelenos are wearing. Hopefully they will work on that."
Personal care and cleaning products: They have a great display for John Masters Organics hair/skincare - seems like they have the entire line in stock. They were giving away sample envelopes of a few of the products - nice! They also have the complete Mrs. Meyers cleaning product line on display. I should mention here, regarding beauty/cleaning products - this Whole Foods branch, like all the rest, has a VERY extensive collection of hair & skin care products (Aubrey Organics, Terrassentials, Burt's Bees, etc) and home cleaning products (Seventh Generation) inside the main store."
Other Displays: "They also feature Fire & Ice recycled glass dinnerware, American Apparel organic clothing, and AFM Safecoat nontoxic house paints."
Conclusion: "All in all, a nice low-key beginning. Here's hoping that 1) there's a lot more to come; 2) their Lifestyle buyers are reading TreeHugger right now!"
Shucks, thanks Erica! Nice work.
Yes, the store is cute with an interesting browsable selection.
But not only is it still such a hassle to have to pay so much to be "greener" but it also still doesn't make sense to me!
Why is it that being more environmentally friendly means "it's ok to be fierce consumers"?
Just wondering.
Yes, the store is cute with an interesting browsable selection.
But not only is it still such a hassle to have to pay so much to be "greener" but it also still doesn't make sense to me!
Why is it that being more environmentally friendly means "it's ok to be fierce consumers"?
Just wondering.
Severine, I think that research is telling manufacturers and retailers that "green" purchasing is still an upper middle class luxury. Most folks still can barely afford to buy their stuff at WalMart and Target.
Until the manufacturing section reaches tipping points and switches wholesale to the newly-emerging "greener" options, this is the sales pattern that makes the most sense in our free market system.
That said - it should be pretty obvious to anyone who reads this site regularly that the changes, these tipping points, are happening in earnest.
Those of us who don't have the money for these $100 bamboo towels and $3000 recycled wood dining room tables, we can still make use of many of the ideas on this site, such as:
- rethinking/improving our own recycling (ie Freecycle, Craigslist)
- taking part in Product Service Systems
- conserving energy in our homes and apartments
- buying local foods & products, eating organic
etc.