Norfolk environmental shop closing - for now

NORFOLK

Green Alternatives, the little shop in Ghent catering to environmentally conscious shoppers, closed its doors Wednesday after just one year in business.

But, as owner Frances Clarkson told a visitor to her locked, half-vacant store on Colonial Avenue, there is a silver lining to this tale of faded green.

Clarkson said she expects to sell her business as early as this week to a like-minded local entrepreneur, Amelia Baker, who intends to open a new Green Alternatives in the same area of Norfolk, hopefully within months.

Baker, who will run the business with her family, said she also wants to continue using the store as a beacon of eco-information, green workshops and networking among Norfolk's environmental circles.

"I love all their community work," Baker said. "That's always what I've wanted to do, too."

Since Clarkson and her daughter, Amanda Mason, quit their jobs a year ago and started Green Alternatives, they have organized recycling drives for used clothes and shoes, old electronic equipment, spent batteries, empty yogurt cups and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

They have partnered with the Norfolk Environmental Commission and other nonprofit groups to promote numerous events and classes.

A table near their front door was loaded with brochures on such topics as global warming, organic food and the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.

"They've been wonderful to have," said Holly Carson, who handles public relations for the Norfolk Environmental Commission. "They took on a tremendous load and were able to move quickly outside any bureaucracy."

Clarkson said closing the original store and ending a yearlong odyssey with her daughter "is really heart-breaking."

Still, she added, "if not for the finances, this has been one of the best years of my life."

The store opened Nov. 15 - on America Recycles Day - offering goods such as soy candles, vegan cookbooks, recycled gift wrap, chemical-free cosmetics, even station ery made from elephant poop.

It was one of the only stores of its kind in Hampton Roads, akin to the Heritage Store in Virginia Beach and the Blue Ridge Eco Shop in Charlottesville.

Sales were good, Clarkson said, especially those of environmental books, reusable water bottles and chemical-free cleaning products.

But Clarkson soon realized that "I had no idea how to run a business."

"I thought we'd be successful just because of our great ideas and enthusiasm," she said. "It doesn't work like that."

Baker, the incoming owner, said she is looking for commercial space in Ghent and downtown Norfolk so she can expand inventory and start a retail Web site.

"There's so many new products in this field," she said. "I'm excited to get started."

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com