Todae. A New Eco Retail Store for Sydney
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 10.24.06
We have our fingers crossed that Todae, a new eco products store that has just opened in the inner city suburb of Glebe, will be here tomorrow. Years ago there was the Re-Store that opened - albeit, only very momentarily - in a thriving, trendy shopping precinct. And numerous others have fallen by the wayside as well. Maybe these previous brave eco-retailers were just ahead of their time. Here’s hoping a corner has been turned. Todae have been trading online for about three years, mostly under the guise of 'Healthy Habitat', specialising in synthetic chemical free clothing and homewares. With the advent of the new retail store the product range has broadened to include energy and water effective goods, hardware and a raft of other green goodies. They also offer the service of Commercial Environmental Assesments, whereby they audit businesses wanting to “save money on energy and water usage, reduce their environmental impact, and create a strong environmental brand ethos amongst customers and staff.” Although now having a shopfront, the Todae online store is still running and can be found at — ::Todae.
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I think the key to encouraging eco-stores is keeping them in business long enough for prices to fall. Prices will be too high for the average consumer until startup costs are recouped and it becomes cost-effective to order and stock higher quantities (volume, volume, volume). In the meantime, those who care deeply about such issues will have to go out of our way to subsidize such businesses.
I love the fact that Todae is managing to maintain their store. I was inspired by businesses like todae and neco to setup an online eco-friendly store. www.urbaneco.com.au, my store, is growing very quickly. I think this is just proff that tides are changing when it comes to people's interest in eco products - especially ones that are stylish and hip, interesting and different to the old stereotyped hippy eco stuff.