Jul 30, 2008

Business of being green in 10th yearBy Renee MitchellOregonLive.com

K at Schon and Penney Stephenson, who co-own Portland Store Fixtures, use both sides of their post-consumer recycled paper before they re-recycle it or use it for scrap.

Their invoices and envelopes tend to have another company’s name crossed out and theirs stamped on. And extra packing materials, shelving or stuff the store can’t use or sell are distributed for free to other businesses in their industrial Southeast Portland neighborhood.

The store’s co-owners had never sought a business loan until last year, when they bought the building they’ve leased since 2002.

“People need to start living with their environment, not on top of it,” says Schon, who eats mostly organic and locally grown food, proudly wears secondhand clothes, only goes to coffee shops on special occasions, and recently bought her first brand-new car, a $22,000 Toyota Prius that can get up to 50 miles per gallon of gas.

“There are frugal ways of doing just about everything. It’s how I live personally, so it makes sense that that’s the way I do business.”

Apparently, Schon and Stephenson are doing something right, considering they seeded their vision with only $200 when they moved to Portland from Hawaii in 1998.

Now, Portland Store Fixtures, which has more than 7,000 customers, grosses nearly $1 million a year and is a favorite of Portlanders who take their green ethic seriously.

“If I go in and explain what it is I need, they can come up with something. And if they can’t get it, they can find something that’ll work,” says Debe McCaul, who has been a fan of Portland Store Fixtures since she and her husband bought the Scottish Country Shop, off Southeast Powell, six years ago. “We’ve become good friends with them and our dogs are good friends.”

A while back, Robyn Craig says she got a phone call from Schon and Stephenson after they found something they thought she might like. Craig suspended the two 8-foot tree branches from the ceiling of her funky Northwest Portland gift shop, Stella’s on 21st, and uses them to hang bird feeders and wind chimes.

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