Eco-Friendly Destination Retail Takes Root at Clarksville's Conscious Corner

Back in the late nineties, the landscape for environmentally and socially conscious businesses wasn't quite what it is now. Where today the "green" movement is fully mainstream and no less a figure than Bill Clinton has experimented with veganism, the story ten years ago was quite different.

In terms of food, the retail marketplace was dominated by one major player � Whole Foods, which was known then as Fresh Fields in the Baltimore/DC region � and filled out with small, independent shops. Stores specializing in eco-conscious products and supplies were few and far between and almost always small, independent, and quirky. Green was a niche market through and through.

In that niche, Roots Market founder Jeff Kaufman saw opportunity.

"During the nineties," he says, "you pretty much had Whole Foods as the glitz place...and you had the smaller co-op or independent stores. The smaller stores tended to have more integrity, but they didn't know how to create a great shopping experience."

Kaufman harbored a vision of combining the two ideas and creating something that was at once better than either. A place with the scope of Whole Foods and the personal focus on quality provided by the smaller markets.

In June of 2000 the vision became reality when he and a business partner opened Roots in a Clarksville shopping center just off of Route 32.

"More colors, better displays, more education. That," he says, "was the idea behind Roots."

It didn't take long for Kaufman to realize that he'd touched a nerve. Drawing initial customers from a Howard County population base that had grown tired of driving to the DC suburbs for eco-conscious shopping options, Roots became an instant hit. Early growth was strong and the store quickly became established as the Columbia area's go-to option for natural and organic food.

For a lot of folks that might be enough. Kaufman, though, exhibits a strong entrepreneurial streak. Each time Roots experienced a growing pain, he recognized it as a chance to further satisfy his customers' growing demand.

"We had a small gift department in Roots when we first opened," says wife Holly Kaufman, who co-runs the business, "and we wanted to put a salad bar in." In October of 2003 they acquired a second space in the same shopping center and opened Nest, where they now carry a full line of "earth-friendly clothing and gifts."

The addition of the salad bar at Roots created yet another area of demand, as they looked for ways to offer more and more prepared food options. So, a third space was acquired � again, in the same shopping center � to serve as Roots' kitchen and "somewhere along in the planning," Holly Kaufman says, "we ended up opening a restaurant."

She's referring to Great Sage, which opened in June of 2004 as one of the area's only all-vegetarian restaurants (it has since gone all-vegan).

Shortly thereafter, in December of 2005, the Kaufmans were looking for a way to free up some extra room at Roots. They found it by taking their pet food section and opening up Bark!, a natural pet food and supply store (and yet another venture in the same shopping center).

They didn't know what to expect with Bark! � noting that at first they would have been happy just to break even � but within six months demand was so strong that they doubled its size.

With that, the "Conscious Corner" � a "group of stores committed to healthy and mindful living" � had officially arrived.

Today, the Kaufmans operate both the original four Conscious Corner businesses (which draw customers from "a fantastic radius") as well as a second Roots location in Olney and four more Bark! locations.

None of it was part of any initial grand design. Roots grew out of a sense that the market was underserved. Subsequent businesses happened both because they needed to, and because the Kaufmans operate with the right kind of mindset to understand and act on that fact.

"There has to be an energy of leadership," Jeff Kaufman says. "If there's something there, you have to run with it, and if you wait until it's obvious then the market's already saturated and you're stuck on your heels."

That entrepreneurial spirit � a mix of curiosity, vision, and guile � figures to carry them through to their next venture. They're somewhat tight-lipped these days about what it might be, but according to Jeff Kaufman, "The intention is for it to be revolutionary."

"People are impressed that we have four shops in one center," he says. "The next iteration might be a whole green village, or green center, built from the ground up."

"When I've taken out loans from banks, they're exponential. So the next project will have to be exponential, to blow people away."

If the Kaufmans' track record with the Conscious Corner is any guide, odds are they'll find a way to make it happen.


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Photos by Arianne Teeple

- Jeff & Holly Kaufman, owners of the Conscious Corner venture
- Roots Market organic salsa
- Bark! Pawsitive Pet Food
- A recycle bone at Bark! Pawsitive Pet Food
- Jeff & Holly Kaufman
- Organic wine at Great Sage Restaurant
- A salad at Great Sage
- Jasmine and her daughter Lexi at Nest Natural Home
- Shoes at Nest
- Jewelry at Nest