Bakersfield Life

Keeping it green

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         Hidden by industrial buildings in the quiet strip mall of Chloe’s Plaza, northwest Bakersfield’s eco-friendly, one-stop shop has built a loyal following despite its location.
Greenshops caters eco connoisseurs and everyday eco-conscious folks alike, selling practical merchandise like organic bedding and cleaning products, as well as natural, cruelty-free makeup and skin care products.
The seed for the business sprouted during a lunch conversation between Jennifer Jordan and Sasha Windes, who were in real estate together. After a long talk about health problems facing their families and pets, both women spent hours looking into solutions.
Windes’ kids had developed allergies, asthma and eczema, so she switched her cleaning products, then gradually, the bedding. Since then, her kids haven’t had rash outbreaks or coughing attacks.
“Every single problem I was taking my daughter to the doctor for went away. When I switched everything out, it changed. We hardly get sick anymore,” Windes said.
Together, Jordan and Windes sought a way to share their newfound knowledge of toxic-free lifestyles with others. 
“We wanted to create a place where people could come in and ask questions because we didn’t have that,” Windes said.
About a year after that fateful lunch, the duo launched their website in January 2008, and soon discovered storage space was needed. Six months later, they opened a small, but shopper-friendly boutique (then called Fresh & Green) in the front part of the warehouse. The store’s name was changed to Greenshops after customers confused the boutique with Fresh & Easy grocery stores that opened around the same time.
The transition to a healthy, green lifestyle can be overwhelming, but Jordan and Windes don’t judge their customers.
“We’ve all made mistakes. You’re not going to do everything right,” Windes said, which is why Greenshops offers workshops once a month.
According to Jordan, the easiest way to go green is to start in the home, specifically in bedrooms since people breathe in what she calls “toxic soup” that consists of air fresheners, candles, perfumes and cleaning products.
“Going green is really thinking about what we bring in our homes. I think the word green will go away. It’s just a word, I consider it healthy living,” Jordan said.
The store’s top sellers include all-natural bedding and pillows made from bamboo fibers, hemp and organic cotton. Windes said. People who have allergies benefit from switching to bedding that is chemical-free. Regular pillows are soaked in fire-retardant chemicals that are extremely toxic, so when people sleep, their skin absorbs the chemicals.
The bedding and pillows are expensive compared to other products at Greenshops — organic bed pillows start at $82, while bedding costs ranges from $60 to $500 — but the owners agree they’re worth the investment for a good night’s sleep.
Another aspect of green living that’s neglected is the amount of waste people throw away at lunch, especially kids. Plastic and brown paper bags, juice boxes, clear sandwich bags, foil chip and cookie packages get disposed without hesitation to recycle.
“My daughter has nothing to throw away after her lunch,” Windes said.
For zero-waste lunches, Windes buys food in bulk and packs her kids’ lunches with reusable products from her store like organic lunch bags, refillable Klean Kanteens and snackTAXIs, bags that can be hand-washed and air-dried and come in two sizes to fit sandwiches and various snacks. Other eco back-to-school items include pens, binders, recycled notebook paper and backpacks.
Besides carrying products that eliminate waste, Greenshops supports TerraCycle, a program that recycles trash for cash. The waste is turned into products like toys, lunch totes and picture frames that are sold at Target, Wal-Mart and Office Max. Not only does TerraCycle pay schools and nonprofits for every item recycled, but the trash is collected at no charge.
Jordan and Windes have designated a TerraCycle drop-off location inside their store. (To learn more about the program, visit terracycle.net.)
Greenshops not only offers an assortment of products, but the owners have a local group that tests everything before a line is carried. It took two years to find a deodorant that works for most of their clients.
“Going green is a gradual process and it is too confusing for our customers to try and navigate through hundreds of products and not know if this or that product will work,” Jordan said.
To ensure customers find the right products from the best manufacturers, the owners send a five-page supply chain questionnaire for every manufacturer to complete before any product enters Greenshops. The owners seek manufacturers that practice good business tactics and care about what’s being distributed.
“We want to make sure that our dollars are going to companies that are like-minded and doing the right thing,” Jordan said.
Besides carrying the best eco products, Jordan and Windes operate Greenshops almost completely paperless, which means they don’t receive packing slips or invoices in deliveries.
“There’s a misconception right now that it is expensive. It’s about starting small and paying attention to waste. With me going green, I’ve saved thousands of dollars,” Jordan said.
 
Greenshops
7737 Meany Ave., 1-888-222-9420 or greenshops.com
Open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday