Walking the Walk

As reported by Steve Kaufman in VMSD, North Face recently opened a LEED Gold certified store in an old department store in downtown Boise, ID. “We’re not one of those retailers that opens 50 stores a year,” Rice says. “We now have just 26 stores, built over 40 years. We choose our locations carefully and each one has to represent the values of the brand. And we feel this Boise store – with its reuse of an old building and our first attempt at LEED certification – tells exactly The North Face story that we try to tell every time out.”

Boise is one of the fastest growing markets for outdoor activities - hiking, skiing, climbing and has a large youth market on campus at Boise State. The building was home to the flagship Mode Department Store from 1909 to the 1980's and so has high recognition and sentimental value in the market.

The building lended itself nicely to environmentally friendly renovation, providing interesting architectural elements and reusable materials. A series of windows allowed for daylight and passive solar.

Other Leed items include: "Elsewhere, JGA and The North Face crossed all of LEED’s t’s. The building exterior is painted (with low-VOC and low-odor paint) a rustic version of The North Face red to blend in with the surrounding buildings. Powdercoated fixtures (as well as backroom shelving) are made of the renewable bamboo plywood called Plyboo. Feature walls use wood manufactured under sustainable forestry guidelines. The cashwrap and backwrap are built from SkyBlend, a wood particleboard made of 100 percent recycled wood fiber without added formaldehyde. Hardwood flooring is produced from sustainable forestry without insecticides or laminated adhesives. Vinyl flooring is made with recycled content and installed with low-VOC adhesive. And the carpeting is a hybrid yarn that uses renewable fiber from corn starch, installed using a glue-free installation system."

North Face puts the money where there mouth is;)

--till next week Restore, Recycle, Refresh, Renew