San Diego GreenLife

by Val Gysler

Photo credit Buffalo Exchange

It has been said the good ol’ greenback can get ya’ pretty much whatever you want in this world. But is salvation from the earth’s devastation one of them? Why yes, it is!

These days, retailers are picking up on what the consumer really wants: a guilt-free, karma-building, eco-friendly purchase. With merchants looking towards a rather polluted horizon for answers on how to stay in business, your greenback is being seduced into their pockets in the name of saving the earth.

Did anyone ever stop to think that just maybe it might be all the buying which has become the real problem here? Those trendy, (and expensive I might add), organic t-shirts will make the landfill no less full if we continue to constantly purchase and discard them.

But there are retailers out there who are strictly in the market to offer you yesterday’s stuff at less than today’s prices, and it’s nothing new—literally.

Buffalo Exchange has been in the business of selling and trading recycled fashions since 1974. With the recent resurgence of all that is earth-friendly, and its burgeoning popularity, business is booming.

Julie, the manager of Buffalo’s Hillcrest location says that business has been great. I asked her if she has seen an increase in sales as people are becoming more conscious of the ecological impact of their retail buying.

“Yes, people have mentioned to me that they feel this is a more guilt-free shopping experience,” she says “

And why not? Buffalo is taking the guilt out of “guilty pleasure” by giving customers an opportunity to exchange their trash for someone else’s treasure.

In addition, Buffalo offers customers a philanthropic alternative to bagging your new britches. In 1994, Buffalo began its “Tokens for Bags” program, in which customers are offered the option of ditching the bag and taking a token valued at the same price as a plastic sack.

The shopper then donates the price of the token to one of several charities. Since its inception, the store has raised over $300,000 for different charities and saved more than six million bags.

I also learned they had begun using bags made of 100% biodegradable, corn-based, bio-plastic for those customers who still want a sack.

The corn bags biodegrade naturally and do not produce any toxic residues. For whatever reason—and Julie was unsure of exactly what that reason was—California is the only state that has been banned the bags.*

All of the other Buffalo stores in the U.S. are currently using them. Schwarzenegger, if you’re reading this, get with the program, man!

In the long run, Julie says, green retail is “principal-driven for the store. The younger generation just thinks this way now”. And think this way, should we all.

As I left the store that evening in April, I saw many thinkers. The place was buzzing. Shoppers had their hands filled with coats, shoes, jeans—everything you could think of—and maybe even something you once owned.

I’ve not seen a store this busy in the absence of an impending holiday since the advent of single-serving macaroni and cheese. Maybe it was the prices. Maybe it was the ethical implications of re-using. Whatever it is, Buffalo is certainly seeing the green, in more ways than one.

*(The State of California requires that bags labeled as “compostable” or “biodegradable” conform to standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (Chapter 619), which include restrictions on bags made from GMO corn, eliminating many of the cornstarch-based bags—Ed.)