Twin Cities Green

We can’t help feeling a little bit of green guilt these days. While green alternatives are popping up everywhere, it’s a challenge to find ways to go green without a complete lifestyle overhaul.

The Hennepin Avenue storefront

You’ve met Ryan and Tina North on our pages before—just over a year ago when they opened their modest Southeast Minneapolis gift store, ReGifts. Their vision of buying green, sustainable, fair-trade, and/or organic gifts quickly resonated with the surrounding community. “While the Southeast Minneapolis neighborhood and green community quickly responded to ReGifts, we were most surprised as to how many regular folk were just interested in greening up their acts,” says Ryan North.

Gifts and chachkas can only take you so far, so when ReGifts customers started inquiring about organic bedclothes, repurposed furnishings, and green baby gear, the Norths saw an opportunity to create a store to gather green, organic, and sustainable living items under one roof.

An artisan-made chair

Twin Cities Green (2405 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., 612-374-4581) inhabits a 3,000-square-foot space full of kitchen, bed, bath, and nursery furnishings and décor, artisan-made furniture, and personal-care accessories and items that fall under one or more of six categories: recycled, reclaimed, natural, organic, sustainable, and fair trade. From organic mattresses and refurbished furniture to all-natural wooden baby toys and toilet paper, Twin Cities Green aims to offer all the necessities for living a greener life. In addition to the goods, customers can access the Green Resource Center, facilitated by local nonprofit Do It Green! Minnesota.

A childrens’ giraffe rocking chair

“We wanted to offer a place for consumers to come in and learn about what it is to be green in a nonthreatening way,” says Ryan. If you are among those who think the idea of going green seems daunting, the Norths emphasize, not preach, that there are many different shades of green and even the smallest changes can really help.

What We Love: Solar-paneled backpacks and briefcases with internal batteries ready to charge your PDA, MP3, and cell phone. Earth- and baby-friendly cribs, clothing, and toys that are as nice to look at as they are for the environment. Organic mattresses by Pure Rest Organic that are free of boric acid (unlike most nongreen furnishings) and also repel dust mites and allergens. They practice what they preach: Flooring is made from recycled rubber tires, all the furnishings are reclaimed, and energy-saving light bulbs glow in the fixtures.