Future Developments for Living Wage’s Fair Trade Store

One of our most successful achievements has been spreading the word and educating people about the Fair Trade Movement through our partnership with the group Living Wage and their Fair Trade Store. While some elements of the original Progressive Center may remain in the building, the Fair Trade Store will have to relocate. One of our strongest supporters has been Allen and Living Wage is a statewide environmental and social justice organization whose mission is to help others open Fair Trade stores to both educate people about the movement and help the producers of fair trade goods become economically viable. They have developed a network of a dozen stores in Florida and Madison, Wisconsin. Tallahassee’s Fair Trade Store was always intended to serve as a prototype, to show others how such a store could work. Now that they will have to re-locate, it is time to close the store so that Living Wage organizers can spend more time developing new stores around the Southeast. The store has been an unqualified success. Volunteers have worked to design and stock the store, have given their time during the holidays to keep it open and the re-stocking parties with new goods from around the world have been legendary. The store is viable but needs a new owner/manager and is looking for a non-profit or for-profit organization to take over, preferably before the holiday season. If an environmental or social justice organization would like to run the store, contact Allen Joseph at 264-1805 or allenjoseph@hotmail.com to find out more. The store may also be incorporated into an entirely new Progressive Center location, depending on the organization’s decision and potential new locations. This is a thank you to all of the volunteers who helped make the store a success and to the community who made it such a warm and lively place. This store educated hundreds of people about the effect of standard-less production and unchecked globalization on humans and the environment.