On January 11th, the YES staff visited Evergreen Collective in St. Paul. Evergreen Collective is a shop promoting and practicing the values of low waste, fair labor and transparency. We had an opportunity to talk with the shop’s owner, Taylor Hall, about the shop, its values and the products she carries.
We started our visit by taking a tour around the shop with Taylor while she highlighted the types of products that she carries and what makes them more sustainable and friendlier than other products. Among the things that Taylor shared were the food storage products, package free soaps and shampoos and the shop’s refill area where people can bring their own containers to refill with household cleaners and personal care products. Taylor shared with us some of her favorite products which included a dry shampoo bar and dish soap concentrate, both of which save on packaging and make shipping more efficient as they don’t contain all of the water that is found in most other products.
After our tour, we had a chance to chat with Taylor and ask her a few questions about Evergreen Collective and her mission. She told us about her journey to starting a business and the values that she built into the shop and what they mean to her. Taylor keeps both the environmental and human impact of her business at the forefront when making decisions and choosing products to carry in her shop. Taylor shared helpful tips for better understanding the impact of the products that we use and also offered advice to young folks who might be interested in starting their own businesses.
Here are a few of the questions that we brought to Taylor:
- What challenges have you faced running a business that tends to go against the norms of a culture of convenience?
- Do you have any advice for people who are interested in participating in a more sustainable economy?
- Are the products in your store more expensive?
- What advice would you give to people who live in rural areas who don’t have access to a store like yours? How can people make a difference if they are only able to shop at Walmart or Target?
This workshop was incredibly informative and offered participants valuable information about making more environmentally responsible and ethical choices when deciding which businesses to shop at and which products to buy. A recording of this workshop is available here if you want to know more and hear Taylor’s response to our questions.
