Portland Fair Trade

The store called Ten Thousand Villages has just received some terrific news.  In the next several months, we will be moving from our current location to a new home – the retail space in the new Mercy Corps headquarters.  The new location is in the former Skidmore Fountain Building, on the MAX line in Portland’s Old Town.

Everyone associated with the store is very excited about the move.  We can’t think of any organization that is better respected – or better lines up with our values – than Mercy Corps. Their mission is “to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.” That’s the ultimate goal of fair trade, as well.

We look forward to working closely with Mercy Corps to promote our message of fair trade.  We also expect to be carrying crafts made by artisans in communities helped by Mercy Corps.

The new location offers the chance to bring the fair trade message to new audiences.  MAX Light Rail stops directly in front of the door.  This will provide tremendous visibility – especially on weekends.  About a million people a year visit Saturday Market, and many of them take light rail.  Ours will be the first store they see when they step off the train.

When we reopen, we will do so under the name Banyan Tree.  While we will continue to stock Ten Thousand Villages products and will remain closely associated with Ten Thousand Villages, we will no longer carry that brand’s name.

As always, our goal in moving to our new location is to sell as many hand-made fair trade products as possible. This translates directly into more food on the tables of women who process shea butter in Ghana; of basket weavers in Bangladesh; of ceramic artists in Chile or handicapped jewelry makers in Kenya.

Craft purchases can mean a child may become the first in his village to attend school.  It can mean the purchase of medicines that were otherwise out of reach.  It may result in women pooling their resources to hire a teacher or local nurse.

By the time we reopen, we would like to be fully stocked with new products – from vendors like Ten Thousand Villages, Gamesh Himal and SERRV that have supplied our store for years, as well as new fair trade sources.

To do that, we are asking for your help. We hope to raise $30,000 to buy new products, cover our expenses while we’re closed and have a cushion as we reopen in our new site.

I’m hoping can help us help the artisans in one of several ways:

• Your tax-deductible contribution can help us stock up on new crafts for our new location. This will ensure we can do our part to keep the orders flowing to artisans in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
• Visit our current location at 938 NW Everett and take advantage of sale prices as we prepare to move during April.
• Please spread the word.  Please talk to your friends about the importance of fair trade and how their purchases can positively affect lives and communities around the globe.

Thank you for any help you can gives us.  Please send contributions to Ten Thousand Villages-Portland, 938 NW Everett, Portland, OR 97209.   If you’d like to contribute electronically, please use the PayPal link on our website.

And come visit our new store right next to the Skidmore Fountain. We look forward to opening by June.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.