interesting

K at Schon and Penney Stephenson, who co-own Portland StoreFixtures, use both sides of their post-consumer recycled paperbefore they re-recycle it or use it for scrap.
Their invoices and envelopes tend to have another company's namecrossed out and theirs stamped on. And extra packing materials,shelving or stuff the store can't use or sell are distributed forfree to other businesses in their industrial Southeast Portlandneighborhood.
The store's co-owners had never sought a business loan until lastyear, when they bought the building they've leased since 2002.
"People need to start living with their environment, not on top ofit," says Schon, who eats mostly organic and locally grown food,proudly wears secondhand clothes, only goes to coffee shops onspecial 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 Ilive personally, so it makes sense that that's the way I dobusiness."
Apparently, Schon and Stephenson are doing something right,considering they seeded their vision with only $200 when they movedto 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 Portlanderswho take their green ethic seriously.
"If I go in and explain what it is I need, they can come up withsomething. And if they can't get it, they can find somethingthat'll work," says Debe McCaul, who has been a fan of PortlandStore Fixtures since she and her husband bought the ScottishCountry Shop, off Southeast Powell, six years ago. "We've becomegood friends with them and our dogs are good friends."
A while back, Robyn Craig says she got a phone call from Schon andStephenson after they found something they thought she might like.Craig suspended the two 8-foot tree branches from the ceiling ofher funky Northwest Portland gift shop, Stella's on 21st, and usesthem to hang bird feeders and wind chimes.
"We just didn't want to have uniform shelving," Craig explains."They always have just interesting things to pick and choose from."
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