Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Am I really opening an eco-friendly store shopping in an American mall?


It hit me like a ton of bricks. I am really opening my own store when I catapulted myself to shop ol'American style – the BIG Mall way! Imagine 3 Mall of America super-size-me buildings with 18 floors in each all connected by elaborate passageways and a several football field size open space. There were over 5,000 venders selling everything from Peruvian potato ornaments to Middle Eastern rugs worth more than my recently bought store in Hampden. The collateral damages - my first panic attack.

Up until this point, it was all a romantic dream – owning a store - until I went to the biggest trade show on the east coast this past weekend. My task of culling through the 5,0000 or more mini-shops was to seek out, eco-friendly, fair-trade "original" items for my new store in Baltimore, Earth Alley, kinda like if I were to search through the Mall of America for earth-honored items made from local artists. The exception - shoppers from the entire County in a bargain-basement of the century crashing into each other. My idea of fun…Quickly I found the free beer and started pushing my way as well. Not so friendly, eco- or otherwise of me, I know but I did find some great things.

Selection of hand made pillows and silk scarves from Earth Alley.

1 comment:

Juliet said...

Congrats! So happy to be a part of your new store! I will be sure to pass on this link to everyone!