In the world of gift giving, a growing trend is to give a gift certificate instead of an item.  Be it a gift certificate to a restaurant or coffee shop, a bookstore or clothing store, gift certificates allow the recipient to buy what they want or to spend some time out with a friend or loved one of their choice.

This holiday season, if you are thinking about getting a gift certificate from a business in the East Bay, the first place you should check out is the new East Bay Express eDeals online store.  The East Bay Express launched their eDeals store last month, featuring gift certificates from independent businesses that have been donated to the weekly paper.  To spread the wealth, the East Bay Express has started selling some of these popular gift cards and certificates at their new online store at 25 to 50% off regular prices.  Gift certificates are available for all sorts of businesses, including clothing stores, spas and body product shops, tickets for local holiday events, sporting equipment stores, local restaurants and eateries, and more! 

This is a great way to support the East Bay Express (a weekly, FREE newspaper) and get diverse gift certificates for family and friends at a discounted rate!  New gift certificates are added all the time, so keep checking out the East Bay Express eDeals website for more.

To find this store and other Oakland-based stores online, shop at oaklandunwrapped.org.

Amy Thomas, owner of Pendragon, for the East Bay Express Indie Revolution

We have recently profiled new, up-and-coming small businesses in Oakland, many of which sell exclusively online.  But Oakland is also home to small, independent businesses with storefronts that have been around for years, some even decades.  These are the stores that you grow up with, that add character to your community and childhood memories.  They are also the stores that set examples for other small businesses in how they treat their employees and serve their clients and community.

Pendragon Books in the Rockridge neighborhood is one of these independent businesses.  Pendragon has been in its same location for nearly forty years.  They have been there so long that the children who used to come with their parents to check out the books continue to come back as adults with their own children.  Many staff members have also grown up with the independent bookstore-several have worked for Pendragon for a decade, some even two decades.

Having been in the independent book business for so long, Pendragon knows a thing or two about operating a successful small business that is competitive with the services offered at any chain bookstore.  All staff members are trained to do everything in the store, from helping customers find a book to buying high-quality used books.  Staff members also earn a living wage and get full benefits.  This partly explains why so many have stayed with Pendragon for so long, but it also demonstrates Pendragon’s commitment to sustaining small businesses.  As Amy Thomas, Pendragon’s owner, says, the store is putting its money where its mouth is in terms of advocating for supporting small businesses.

Many new customers come to Pendragon unaware of the top-notch service they can get at an independent book store.  Pendragon’s shelves are well stocked with a wide variety of titles, both new and used, and anything that isn’t in its stockroom can be ordered and shipped to the store within a few days.  Their prices are comparable to the ones you would see at a big book store.  Pendragon’s staff is also knowledgeable about the books they offer, and can suggest book titles and recommendations the way staff at a big book store cannot.

But Pendragon is more than just a bookstore in Oakland; it acts as an engaged member of the community.  Pendragon features local authors and sells beautiful gift cards, many designed by local artists.  It gives discounts to book groups in the area.  It donates books and gift certificates to local libraries and schools.  It is an active member of the American Booksellers Association and supports national literary events, such as Banned Book Week and National Novel Writing Month.

Pendragon, while a stalwart, is also changing with the times.  They have greened the water filtration system in their store and recycle all their packaging materials.  They also buy and sell used books, which is, as they say, perhaps the greenest thing they do.  They also sell all their books and products online, so you can browse their book collection from the comfort of your own home!  To shop online at Pendragon Books and to learn more about their role as an independent bookstore in Oakland, check out their website.

Locally grown food and produce is a rising movement in the United States, particularly in urban areas. Many urban dwellers are participating by trying their hand at growing their own vegetables. This not only helps the environment, but can help cut down on our food cost. And those of us living in the San Francisco Bay Area are lucky enough to have plants grow year-round. But many urban dwellers have such small yards–or no yards at all–that they have no space in which to grow a garden.  But Vertical Home Gardens, a brand-new Oakland-based garden products company, has come up with a solution to allow suburban and urban gardeners alike can grow vegetables, herbs, flower, and more in a space that only takes up a couple of square feet.

Vertical Home Gardens, LLC is a garden products company that designs, manufactures, markets, and sells vertical gardening solutions. The team behind Vertical Home Gardens has developed the Phytopod^TM and the Phytopod Field^TM gardening products for individuals, schools, and businesses who would like to garden but lack sufficient space to do so. A Phytopod fits nicely on a balcony or patio and can grow up to 20 square feet of produce!

The Phytopod^TM comes in three different heights, all with an 18 inch diameter, to accommodate its customers’ needs; even the largest Phytopod^TM is only 3 feet tall. All Phytopods are made from eco-friendly, recycled, or re-used materials and have a built-in internal watering system, allowing plants to grow on every surface of the Phytopod^TM.

Vertical Home Gardens is also reaching out to their urban community, particularly schools. They have started a “Grow, Eat, Recycle!” School Garden Package, which is designed to teach students how to compost cafeteria food scraps, then use the compost to grow a vertical garden of vegetables and herbs to be eaten in the cafeteria. The package, combined with the vertical garden, is perfect for urban schools with little space for traditional gardening but that still want their students to learn where their food comes from.

Make sure to check out this Oakland-based business on Oakland Unwrapped for more information: http://oaklandunwrapped.org/verticalgardens.

September is here, ringing in the new school year.  As popularity of green businesses and environmentally-friendly products continue to grow in the Bay Area, you might be wondering-is it possible to go green at school, too?  Yes!  Oakland Unwrapped has many local businesses that offer environmentally-friendly products for children heading back to school.  One of our most recent additions, One Small Step, is just one of these businesses working to get parents and children to “think and act ‘green,’ one small step at a time.”

One Small Step specializes in providing everything and anything you could possibly need to pack a waste-free lunch for your child or yourself.  A waste-free lunch is just what it sounds like: food and beverage from home packaged in reusable storage containers, bags, or bottles, with reusable napkins and utensils, all packed in a reusable lunch box.  One Small Step offers all these items and more in a variety of creative styles and colors.  You won’t find any un-cool lunch boxes here! 

The beauty of packing a waste-free lunch is that it is healthier and saves you money in the long run.  According to One Small Step, you can save up to one-third of your annual food budget just by sending waste-free lunches with your kids (see their FAQ page for more details).  And homemade food is always healthier-and usually tastier-than store-bought processed foods.  (Why else would college kids keep coming home for a home cooked meal?)  Founder Renata Bodon has also learned this lesson through personal experience.  She discovered that, by avoiding store-bought, pre-packaged food and packing her daughter a waste-free lunch, her daughter was eating healthier and fresher food while learning about the positive environmental impact she was having at such a young age.

One Small Step makes it easy for you, too, to save money on your food budget, eat healthier, and minimize your food-related waste by selling all these products online in one location.  One Small Step also donates 10% of all profits to community organizations, taking one more small step in bettering our communities.

For more information check out One Small Step on Oakland Unwrapped: http://oaklandunwrapped.org/onesmallstep/

“Please feel free to jump on the Fatboy,” says Marie Deleris, owner of Entrez! Open House, a gifts, housewares and furniture boutique in uptown Oakland. I try to suppress my revulsion at the thought of crushing an overweight toddler, but my face betrays me. She notices and quickly adds, “it’s a beanbag chair!” Relieved, I go inside under the pretense of perusing the store’s offerings with every intention of double-checking the oven behind the front counter to make sure Hansel isn’t peeking out at me. Now, fully pacified, I am able to relax and take in my surroundings. Upon taking my first glance around Entrez!, I was afraid I had just been poked in the eyes with a kaleidoscope—in a good way. The store erupts with color and wild designs, shelves are stocked with neat gadgets, and there is a kitchen in the showroom, the island of which serves as the checkout counter.

You’re probably thinking, “Man, that store sounds nuttier than squirrel poop.”

Maybe you’re right, but the pervading thing on my mind while there was, “This place is so cool! Why don’t I have more colorful stuff decorating my place! Why haven’t I been shopping here!?” It sounds like my sentiment is in line with Marie’s customers’, from whom she hears at least once a day that her store is a “getaway” or a “sanctuary”. Entrez! has become the place for many toiling in downtown Oakland to escape from the workplace and let off some steam. This is a result of many things, all of which add up to one very cool, very unorthodox, design store.

Marie Deleris came to America from Paris six years ago to improve her English, and she never went back. While looking for opportunities that would allow her to extend her visa, Marie’s friends would keep commenting on her knack for design. She took their compliments to heart and ran with them, the result being Entrez! Open House. Marie comes from a family that was always interested in interiors, and she says it’s very important to have a good home, a relaxing place to return to at the end of the day. Her store is a microcosm of the environment Marie envisions for her customers. At Entrez! you are allowed to pick up and touch everything, and sit on the furniture. Besides being important to test drive a chair before you buy, this really makes the store much more homey and friendly, a stark contrast to other design galleries where the pieces are reserved strictly for visual enjoyment.

Marie wants her customers to feel at home in Entrez!, the kitchen on the showroom floor helps, and her trust in her customers has been rewarded—in three years only one piece has been broken. This is a testament to the durability of the products that Entrez! carries. Marie likes the idea of things that will last forever, as the most sustainable products are the ones that never need be replaced. One of the most popular lines at the store is Elbow Grease Designs, currently a selection of bags made from recycled convention banners and other recycled materials, made by Oakland’s own Jenny Hurth.

Along with the home and the environment, community is also important. When Entrez! first opened, Marie would see the same people walking past her doors every day on their way from their lattes to work and back. Three years later, the neighborhood is a host to joggers and families pushing strollers on the weekends, and there are new faces coming through to check out all of the cool new stores that have opened on the block. And now those people who trudged past Entrez! every morning are the regulars who stop by to relax and have a coffee or eat their lunch on the tables out in front. This trend in revitalization has not gone unnoticed, as Entrez! was named the Neighborhood Dynamo Oakland Indie Award winner for the Uptown district in 2007.

To help lure people downtown, and probably more just for fun, Tammy at Entrez! hosts Neighbor Knit Meetings twice a month, and Marie holds a French conversation night monthly; every October Entrez! invites people to its pumpkin carving extravaganza, with the one rule that pumpkins must be cleaned out on the sidewalk and the innards disposed of before moving the pumpkins inside to carve.

This summer, Entrez! is also holding a summer design series so that anyone interested can learn more about design and design companies. The first of three lectures, given by a representative from Alessi, has already past, but you can still make it out for the last two: Entrez! will be hosting Kartell on August 13^th, and Iittala on September 4^th. Click here for more information on the summer design series.

With so much going on at Entrez! Open House you should definitely stop by and check it out for yourself. Marie and her staff are a lot of fun to hang out with, so drop by and share your lunch hour with them, and please, feel free to jump on the Fatboy.

To learn more about Entrez! Open House, visit their website. And to see more independent Oakland businesses online, check out the Oakland Unwrapped website.

Do you love Oakland as much as we do?  Do you want to show your love and support for Oakland while helping others for a good cause?  Then check out the Oakland Pendants designed by Oakland Unwrapped vendor Mangosteen.  Featuring original photographs of classic Oakland scenes, from the Parkway Theatre to the cranes to Lake Merritt, these pendants will all remind you of this unique city.

Mangosteen founder Gabrielle Lessard first came up with the idea for these pendants when the Parkway Theatre closed.  Lessard took images of the Parkway’s marquee, which read “We Love You Oakland,” and shrunk the images to turn them into pendants to, as Lessard said, “express our collective sense of loss.”  While the Parkway Theatre pendant served as a lovely memorial to the now-closed Parkway Theatre, Lessard discovered a silver lining in her art; she realized she had many other photos of Oakland that would make fun pendants to commemorate the unique landmarks and everyday images Oakland has to offer.  These images include scenes from Downtown, Chinatown, Lake Merritt, the cranes, the Fox Theatre, Old Oakland Victorians, and more.  Check out this slide show of Oakland photos you can choose from.  Pendants can be purchased from the Mangosteen website on Oakland Unwrapped!  And check back to see what else Lessard creates from these iconic Oakland photos-designs for Oakland cufflinks, key chains, and wine glass markers are in the works.

Lessard, an Oakland-based attorney, community development leader, jewelry designer and photographer, is also an avid traveler, especially in developing countries.  The people she met and things she saw on her travels inspired her to create Mangosteen; through Mangosteen, she sells her jewelry along with Fair Trade imports from the countries she visits and educates her consumers about the social problems in developing countries, such as human trafficking.  Lessard donates the revenue generated from her sales to various development organizations in the countries she visits.  Besides her work abroad, Lessard is a proud Oakland resident, as shown by her Oakland pendants and affiliation with Oakland Unwrapped.  To see more of the unique stores on Oakland Unwrapped, check out the website here.

Porcelynne Lingerie Designer Jennifer Lynne Matthews

Bamboo isn’t just panda food anymore.  Bamboo is quickly becoming an alternative to wood for flooring and fences as well as to cotton for t-shirts and socks because of its sustainability.  (Bamboo grows rapidly and without pesticides, which means bamboo uses fewer natural resources than other plants and has a smaller impact on our environment.)  But did you know that bamboo also makes for a comfortable pair of underwear?  Jennifer Lynne Matthews, founder and designer of Porcelynne Lingerie, does just that-she makes her undergarments from a sustainable bamboo blend.

Matthews originally developed Porcelynne Lingerie in 2002 as an alternative to uncomfortable underwear.  Focused on fit, she hand makes all of her garments, from underwear to sports bras, tank tops to sleep masks.  Since day one, Matthews’s products have been environmentally friendly: she makes all her lingerie from fabrics rescued from factory cutting floors, preventing them from ending up in a landfill.  Her newest line of lingerie is made from a sustainable bamboo blend, which is not only soft but also naturally antibacterial and biodegradable.  Matthews chose bamboo not only because it is a quality product and good for the environment, but also because she can help to educate her clientele about sustainable practices through her actions.  And Matthews’s sustainable practices don’t end with her products; Porcelynne Lingerie uses no plastic wrap in its shipping products and packaging is used sparingly. 

Besides being an eco-conscious entrepreneur, artist and fashion designer, Matthews is also a teacher at San Francisco’s Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and the author of Fashion Unraveled: How to Start, Run, and Manage an Independent Fashion Label.  With her teaching and her book, she serves as a mentor to her students, offering advice on how to run a successful business and produce innovative fashions in a sound manner.  She also participates in regional industry leadership circles and co-founded a fashion industry group in Oakland to further support budding entrepreneurs.  Calling Matthews’s work “sustainable,” therefore, has a double meaning: she uses sustainable practices in her own business and supports and nurtures other budding fashion entrepreneurs so that they will create and maintain successful businesses.

To learn more about Porcelynne Lingerie and see the products she offers, check out her website.  And to see more independent Oakland businesses online, check out the Oakland Unwrapped website.

The Bar at Awaken Cafe

For OneCalifornia Foundation, all nominees, finalists, and winners at the Indie Awards are winners because their work ties into the work of the foundation: helping to create this vibrant, diverse, and thriving community that is Oakland! We love the work these businesses and artists do, and think it’s great when it just so happens that their work intertwines with ours! This year, the winner of the Greenie Award was Awaken Café–who, besides brewing a mean latte, serving tasty organic treats, and supporting local musicians and artists, sells their coffee and so much more on our online marketplace, Oakland Unwrapped!

Awaken Café opened its doors last year, but it took lots of hard work and conscious community investigating to bring this community-oriented and eco-conscious café to fruition. (more…)