Grid Blog

Entries in local business (25)

Friday
Nov112011

Team Sustainable: Career Wardrobe and Wash Cycle Laundry announce partnership

Philadelphia’s own Career Wardrobe and Wash Cycle Laundry have teamed up to make donating gently used women’s business clothing even easier—and greener. 

On Friday, November 18, anyone with women’s clothing to donate can schedule a free pick-up with the sustainable, bike-pick up laundry service.

Donated items and accessories will be delivered to the Career Wardrobe offices to be sorted into either interview-appropriate clothing for clients or ensembles to be sold at The Wardrobe Boutique, where ALL proceeds benefit the nonprofit. Career Wardrobe will provide donors with a tax receipt for their contributions. Any new Wash Cycle customers who sign up from the November 18 event will receive a 25 percent discount on their first use of the laundry service.

While Friday is the only day offering free services to anyone, the partnership will continue, allowing Wash Cycle Laundry customers to donate directly to Career Wardrobe when their laundry is picked up. The laundry service will even provide garment and accessory bags for delivery to Career Wardrobe’s office. 

If you do your own laundry, rather than send it out, donations can be made to Career Wardrobe at their office (12th and Chestnut Sts.), The Wardrobe Boutique (19th and Spring Garden Sts.), and their two new drop-off locations: Susquehanna Bank (1845 Walnut St.) and The Residences at Dockside (717 South Columbus Blvd.)

To schedule a free pickup on November 18, visit the Wash Cycle Laundry website

- Anna Louise Neiger

Tuesday
Jul052011

Banding Together: Cutting-edge architectural salvage company Greensaw has taken the bold step of becoming an employee-owned co-op. Will the risky move pay off?

Can one imagine an economy in which labor hires capital? Where workers have a legal right to the profits and legal responsibility for the liabilities because they are the owners, where workers jointly manage the firm and themselves in a democratic fashion?

—William Greider, national correspondent for The Nation, in his introduction to The Real World of Employee Ownership

On a blustering snowy weekend in late January, a group of men and women gathered in front of a bedsheet and projector in a timber-framed cabin in Eagles Mere, Pa., to discuss how to become a cooperatively owned business. In between breaks for venison stew, toboggan sledding and heating snow for water, those in attendance heard impassioned speeches about governance and power. Debates over fairness, dignity, and responsibility flared and simmered. A sample policy and procedures manual was presented and picked apart as each person was asked to truly consider Greider’s question.

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Wednesday
Dec082010

Let's Make a Deal: Philly Buying Power

The upcoming expiration of PECO’s rate caps on electricity (happening January 1, 2011, in case you forgot) is a mixed bag. On one hand, we can expect PECO’s rates to go up. On the other hand, now that PECO’s rates will no longer be artificially low, suppliers can compete for our business, ending PECO’s longstanding monopoly.

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Thursday
Oct142010

Local Business: Potato Head

Three Potato Four’s new retail space on Shurs Lane feels a bit like a macro version of their beautiful, deliberately-chosen salvaged items and antiques. A former wool mill that’s over 100 years old, the converted space (once used as a dye room), has taken on myriad other incarnations in the last few decades, including a furniture repair shop, a dog collar factory and host to a couple of raves in the ’80s.

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Wednesday
Oct132010

Local Business: Into the Woods

Throughout Philadelphia, crumbling factories recall a faded past. But in the wooden beams that once held them up—century-old timber taken from vanished virgin forests—Steve Ebner sees beauty, opportunity and a chance at renewal. “You can’t get better than this,” he says, gesturing toward the massive stacks of reclaimed wood that make up the stock of his business, Manayunk Timber, Inc.

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Wednesday
Oct132010

Local Business: Family Tiles

Jason Ferraro was born to lay tile. His grandfather taught his father and two uncles the trade; then they taught him. When Jason met and married Tiffany, a former interior designer, their overlapping skills inspired an idea. The result is Earthstone Tile Works, a boutique tile shop in South Philadelphia specializing in responsibly-made, long-lasting tile.

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Monday
Sep272010

Sweet Success

Milk & Honey Market bottles urban honey
by Natalie Hope McDonald


By the middle of June, Michelle Niedermeier’s oldest son started smelling the honey. Selected as one of seven beehive hosts in the city, the family’s West Philadelphia backyard was a contributor to Milk & Honey Market’s unique summer project.

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Monday
Sep272010

Diaper Dandy

Mt. Airy’s Nesting House is a bastion for eco-aware parents
by Ariela Rose

For many, choosing a baby’s diapering system is as easy as running to the nearest convenience store and grabbing a box of Pampers. But for those with environmental concerns, cloth diapers may be the best choice. In a reusable diaper landscape full of cleaning services, snappies and bamboo liners, where is a new parent to begin?

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Friday
Aug202010

Jungle Fever

This South Philly gardener goes vertical by scott orwig

Sometimes it’s easy to forget the simplest way to go green: plants. But for city dwellers whose outdoor space consists of a tiny concrete slab or rooftop deck, a lush, outdoor garden seems out of the question. There are plenty of easy ways to green up even the most meager of spaces—potted plants, window boxes—but if you’re really looking to maximize your space, look skyward.

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Friday
Aug202010

Smart Water

Two Penn grads quench your thirst and address the global water crisis by danielle zimmerman

In Philadelphia, you can fill a glass with the flick of a faucet, or instantly run a warm bath to relax from a particularly rough day. But for people living in other parts of the world, those simple actions are still an unimaginable luxury.

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