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Enviro pioneers Grassroots close up shop

After two-plus decades as a cornerstone of Toronto’s green scene, Grassroots has closed its doors February 21.   

The pioneering eco boutique – a mecca for the environmentally conscious and a safe haven for the chemically sensitive – used to be the only place in town for green products. Now the Nature Clean soaps and sprays it carried are in virtually every grocery store, next to theTide Free and Clorox Green Works. The recycled notebooks are in every Chapters and Staples. Natural pest control can be snapped up at Canadian Tire. The reusable menstrual cups are now at Shoppers Drug Mart.  

“I remember I did an interview about 20 years ago when people were trying to figure out what Grassroots was and why I felt people needed healthy, ethical, environmentally-responsible products,” Grassroots owner Rob Grand tells NOW.  “My vision was to see green products on every shelf, in every store, in every city across the country – and 20 years later we’re pretty close to realizing that vision.”  

The pervasiveness of green products in stores across the country may be a sign of the environmental movement’s success but Big Box stores can’t replicate the community hub that was Grassroots. The activist-oriented business incubated green consciousness and seeded the possibility of social, political and environmental change in a more sustainable world. You can’t get that at Costco.  

The cozy tan and lime green shops (first on Bloor then on Danforth) played a critical role in raising this city’s awareness around the environmental and health impacts of the products we use and bring into our homes everyday. Where else would I have sent readers to hunt down alternatives back in 2004?  

Sales never fully recovered after the market crash of 2008, but so much of what it offered under one roof (and online) – organic latex mattresses, fair trade socks and biodegradable package-free cleaners in bulk – still isn’t easy to find elsewhere. A handful of green general stores, like EcoExistence on St. Clair West, Ecotique on Roncevalles and Organiclifestyle.com are now carrying the torch, but there’s no doubt a gaping hole has been left in the east end.

In a final newsletter to customers, Grand addressed Grassroots’s legacy best: “Nothing makes me more proud than to see so many concerned people working tirelessly for a healthy, sustainable, clean environment. I am thankful that Grassroots has been able to play a role in creating and developing a green(er), more ethical, socially responsible economy in Toronto.” 

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation  

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