Maria Onesto Moran, the 28-year-old owner of Green Home Experts at 823 South Oak Park Ave. in Oak Park, says that when she was first talking up the idea of opening her business one person thought it would be a house wares store that only sold merchandise that was the color green.
“Now, that was four years ago, but not that long ago, really,” she laughs.
In her store, the eco-friendly, hybrid-driving, compost-loving vegetarian, who resides in Forest Park with her husband Casey Moran and infant son, Oscar, is selling so much more than that. The problem is, she says, not enough Oak Parkers know about her business …yet.
Onesto Moran’s “green general store,” which is tucked away just north of Avenue Ale House in South Oak Park, still exists in spite of the economy. In her 1,100-square foot green retail space (yes, the walls are the color green) she sells everything from insulation made from recycled denim to countertops that are composed of recycled glass.
Also on the shelves are non-toxic household cleaners, organic fertilizers, non-toxic weed killers, compost bins and rain barrels, plus biodegradable and cloth diapers, seasonal sustainable gifts for the holidays, school lunch supplies and energy efficient light bulbs.
Savvy Onesto Moran, who formerly did marketing and fundraising for nonprofits and political campaigns, uses high tech strategies and a folksy face-to-face approach to keep customers plugged in to her brick and mortar, and virtual environs. Also on tap in the store are frequent educational demos. Online she produces and disseminates an info-packed blog and an electronic newsletter via her website, (www.GHExperts.com). Whenever possible, Onesto Moran and her four part-time employees collaborate with other like-minded groups and individuals to stage in-the-community green events.
Born in Riverside, Onesto Moran’s original business model was to open a green building supply store. But then, just prior to her store’s grand opening in February of 2008, the economy tanked. With it went her potential customer base. In the teeth of it she quickly modified her retail model to reflect the range of eco-friendly and sustainable products seen in the store today.
Yet, good ideas linger, and Onesto Moran’s did.
“We are in the middle of a pretty vigorous campaign to reach out to local designers, builders and architects because if they are specifying this material, we want to have the first shot at supplying it,” she says. “That is a big step for us.”
Recently, Onesto Moran has been fine-tuning her marketing acumen with Facebook, Twitter and now Four Square, a cutting-edge game for GPS mobile phones that enables iPhone, Blackberry and Android users to log visits they make to their restaurant or retail establishment, she says. When customers check in to the same location more than any other user, Foursquare declares them the mayor of that place, and the proprietor gets creative from there.
“Let’s face it — these haven’t been easy years to survive,” she admits. “But in this short time, we have created an amazing, dynamic community of conscientious consumers who find us, shop here, and tell their friends to shop here. GHE exists today only because of our loyal customer base. If it wasn’t for their dedication to shopping local, I wouldn’t be here, and that is a significant thing to say.”