Delilah Snell has turned her original 500-square-foot store in Santa Ana into an expanded 1,500-square-foot haven for green seekers.
The Road Less Traveled, two years opened, sells toxic-free cleaning products, trendy organic clothing, books on composting, organic bedding clay paints and lawn chairs made of detergent bottles.
The store also hosts do-it-yourself workshops, lectures on topics such as feng shui design and book signings.
Snell practices what she sells. She recycles and composts the store’s waste and uses only recycled paper.
“We only deal with companies that use recycled materials,” Snell said.
In September, the store is adding a design counter, where contractors can come in and look at toxic-free paints.
“I got rid of our office to make a section for just paints,” she said.
Snell, who worked at Santa Ana’s Gypsy Den restaurant for nearly 10 years, opened the store with $5,000. For the first year, she waitressed at the Gypsy Den and ran her store.
The Harveys,Dana and Melanie, who own nearby purse boutique Harveys,were her first customers. Many customers followed her from the Gypsy Den, Snell said. Harveys opened its own store last year at City Place Shopping Center in Santa Ana.
Snell said she started small and then expanded as space came available.
She says she’s been able to expand because she gets a great deal on rent. Her landlord is pleased by the improvements she has made to her space, Snell said.
“I put on the lights in the parking lot,” she said.
Her employees are 10 interns, who work the store to learn about retail and sustainable living.
An Orange County native, Snell said she opened her store because she was bored with local shopping choices. She thought she could offer something different. Her parents suggested she go to a city such as Berkeley, where a store like hers would fit in.
But she said she saw demand in OC and figured there would be too much competition in Northern California, already full of stores like hers.
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Road Less Traveled’s colored pencils: made from recycled newspapers |
Living Spaces: Royal Visit
A 90,000-square-foot Living Spaces Furniture store opened at the Irvine Home Center with all the usual ribbon-cutting fanfare, including Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, Janice Fuchs, vice president of operations for The Irvine Company’s retail arm, and Rancho Cucamonga-based Living Spaces LLC’s chief executive, Grover Geiselman.
Paul Goldenberg, the king of big screens, also was there for the opening of Paul’s TV within the Living Spaces store. Now retired, Goldenberg came out to meet about 100 guests.
Goldenberg is known for his kitschy TV ads, where he declares “I am the king.” The store sells mostly flat-screen TVs from Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and other makers.
Paul’s TV & Video in La Habra has opened several stores within Living Spaces Furniture stores. Paul’s TV’s first and only stand-alone store is in La Habra.
Paul’s TV takes up 3,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet inside Living Spaces, which are 90,000 square feet to 120,000 square feet.
The TV store has been an OC staple for 50 years. Paul’s TV claims Super Bowl Sunday as one of its best sales days, when TV delivery begins at 6 a.m.
Gift Cards Out at South Coast
South Coast Plaza has relaunched its paper gift certificates to replace plastic gift cards. The shopping center found that customers didn’t like the fees charged for remaining balances on the gift cards. Customers also had difficulty returning items that were purchased with a gift card.
Fletcher in Ontario
Fletcher Jones Motorcars plans to open an Ontario Mercedes-Benz dealership off Interstate 10 at the end of next year. The dealership is set to take up 8 acres.
Garth Blumenthal, general manager of Fletcher Jones’ flagship Newport Beach dealership, will have a hand in opening the Ontario dealership. He’s also a partner in a Temecula dealership that is expected to open next year.
Fletcher Jones Manage-ment Group, based in Las Vegas, plans to open other dealerships in Maui and Henderson, Nev.
The Temecula dealership is adhering to the green standards put forth by the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. It will be built to take advantage of natural light to cut down on electricity.
The building supplies will be made from recycled and renewable materials. The dealership will use low maintenance landscaping and reduce overall water consumption by 30% a day.
In other Fletcher Jones news, the dealership helped to pay for Newport Harbor High School’s $135,000 football field, which is used by Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools and community soccer teams.
