Tim McNulty, owner of Greendesign on Witherspoon Street in Princeton.
Greendesign’s eclectic inventory reflects the owners’ choice to offer merchandise that meet a certain standard of design rather than a set of specific uses.
Tim McNulty was a consumer in search of environmentally friendly and sustainable goods when he hit upon the idea of opening a store of his own, called Greendesign, that would provide such goods.
As a conscientious shopper and a parent, he found it to be a chore to find products that were both well made and good for the environment. Even when he did find what he was looking for, the discoveries usually occurred on line.
“It was great to be able to find things, but I’d rather see them live before buying them,” he said. “So that was the reason for opening this as a bricks and mortar store. Not only can I accumulate all these things that are unique and interesting, but also I can have them displayed where people can come in and see them.”
McNulty and his wife, Chi Park, opened on Witherspoon Street in 2008. The store offers a wide variety of merchandise ranging from baby clothes to yoga mats to reusable food containers to insect repellent. There are toys, wall art, candles and even an adult mattress on display.
Some would call it eclectic. But for McNulty there is unity among the offerings. Everything in the store offers some environmental benefit, whether that be the way it is made, the way it can be used, or ideally, both.
While it’s essential for McNulty that his items are good for the planet, it’s even more important that they be excellent in both form and function. “One of the key things in choosing the stuff in the store is that we really want things that are beautiful or practical in their own way,” he said.
As a consumer, he had browsed through all too many stores where “green” or “sustainable” were buzzwords more than watchwords. “It always seemed to me that people had just greated a product to be green, and the product was junk. I thought that was a losing proposition,” he said. “It’s great that there are people out there who would want to buy a thing just for that reason, but the primary reason should be that it has real use in someone’s life. The best product is the one that I’d want to buy without even being conscious of it being environmentally friendly.”
When deciding what to stock, McNulty begins with need. When they think of something that they’re missing — in the store or at home — they begin researching things that can fill the gap.
Take water bottles. Greendesign has long sold stainless steel water bottles, which are sturdy and easy to clean. But, McNulty said, people are used to drinking out of glass and ceramic, even though those are breakable materials.
So he set out to find a provider who made glass water bottles sturdy enough to withstand constant use. Eventually he found one, as well as another who made them out of ceramic, and now they stock all three. “That was something where we saw there was demand for that type of item,” he said.
Recently, Greendesign has been stocking organic cotton baby clothes from a company called MilkBarn that have newer organic dyes that are more vibrant than what used to be available. People who are committed to buying environmentally friendly items have long been accustomed to making some sacrifices in terms of color and design, so when manufacturers start closing the gaps in terms of look, or durability, customers respond well.
“When we started this store, there weren’t as many companies that were doing this. They were just starting,” he said. “There are always new things that are happening and it’s great to be able to bring those things into the store.”
Part of McNulty’s job is to look into his suppliers and make sure they are upholding the principles of sustainable and environmentally friendly design. Because many of the manufacturers are based in the United States, he is often able to call them or even meet with them to see how they work.
This due diligence actually benefits the makers as well as the buyers. Many of the items for sale at Greendesign are more expensive than mass produced goods found in other stores, which makes customers more cautious. Buying these goods instead of throw-away items is essentially like investing in the products.
Which, McNulty said, is why it’s so important that Greendesign is a bricks and mortar store and not just online (although they do sell items online as well). “The people we’re working with put such care, such time and resources into creating these things, that they almost need these things to be physically local in places, so people can understand why something is more expensive,” he said.
In 2012, McNulty and Park opened a second store in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia (Park is originally from the Philly area; McNulty is from Minnesota). McNulty said both stores do well, but Chestnut Hill sees most of its traffic on weekends, while the Princeton location is busy all week because of its heavier volume of tourists and day visitors. He splits his time between both stores.
McNulty’s worked in international sales for an Internet startup prior to opening the shop. For his work, he and Park lived in Cologne and Amsterdam as well as California before settling in Princeton in the last decade. They have two children, Kees, 10, and Suki, 8, who attend the Waldorf School. Both kids also help out at the stores.
McNulty said he could see Greendesign expanding if they can find more markets that they believe could sustain a branch of the store. In the meantime, he said, Greendesign is always expanding. “We’re just expanding inside the store,” he said.
Greendesign, 42 Witherspoon St., Princeton. Open Monday through Wednesday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Phone: (609) 651-4643. Web: shopgreendesign.com.
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