Norwalk Sustainable Store Proving To Be A Sustainable Success

NORWALK, CT — The community’s hunger for eco-friendly products — as well as a place to congregate with some like-minded people — is making the new Eco Evolution store in South Norwalk a burgeoning success.

Brad Kerner, the Fairfield man many know informally as The Eco Dude, is seeing his dreams come true with a brick-and-mortar cooperative at 135 Washington Street that brings his online venture to life.

“It’s amazing,” said Kerner, who for the past year or so has been operating an online store that has assembled a wide range of products aimed at making the earth a better place.

The current online store offers a wide selection of things that drastically reduce plastic and waste, including eco-friendly doggy poop bags, bamboo-handled safety razors, all-natural charcoal teeth whitening powder, and much more.

Kerner has searched out vendors from all over — originally just to make his own sustainability-minded purchases — and in the process has managed to gather many of them under this one umbrella.

But earlier this summer, amidst his quest to find a brick-and-mortar space to start featuring some of the local people who are creating these products, Kerner entered a contest offered by the real estate company AGW Partners in Norwalk.

“They had a competition for new retail entrepreneurs who have never had a store,” Kerner said. “I won.”

Kerner beat out 30 other applicants and received a free short-term lease on the 2,100-square foot space just west of the drawbridge and Maritime Aquarium.

He ended up having such an excellent experience with the store, welcoming many repeat customers and watching the business take off, he decided to sign a five-year lease on the space and now looks forward to expanding his business.

“I will be building out a coffee shop,” he said, “one that sends nothing to the incinerator … Everything is going to be compostible. We’re going to encourage bringing your own mugs.”

This will ultimately only add to a business that he said is drawing many people simply as a safe, comfortable gathering place, with repeat customers spending time there meeting others, discussing all things environmentally conscious.

In fact, his store hours work to accommodate that, with the place open until 10:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, and until 11 p.m. on Saturday night.

While it has afternoon hours on Sunday, for the time being it’s closed Monday and Tuesday.

The Eco Dude can’t help but wax sustainable as he describes the importance of earth-healthy practices and the ways he hopes to help encourage people to incorporate them into their lives.

“Less garbage, less in the recycling bins, and guess who saves money? The city of Norwalk,” he said.

“The goal is to get all of the residents who live here to start adopting these practices into their daily lives,” he said.

To help encourage people, he is paying to have a variety of free recycling bins available in his store for unique items, including e-cigarettes, straws, toothbrushes and small electronics, in order to encourage participation in going green.

There are also events he is holding, including aromatherapy sessions, educational talks, and more fun activities like wine tastings and even dance parties.

Kerner wants to emphasize that it’s progress over perfection when it comes to sustainability, and that people don’t need to stress themselves out over doing too much all at once.

For more information, visit facebook.com/EcoEvolutionCo or www.ecoevolution.co.