The Black Cat: Local, Fair, and Green
As the White Dog Cafe celebrates its 25th anniversary, our retail shop, the Black Cat has entered its 20th year, and we are honoring the upcoming anniversary by expanding the store. Like the White Dog, the Black Cat is representative of the new economy, offering products that are locally produced, fairly traded and eco-friendly. In our new space, the Black Cat will provide our customers with products for sustainable living – compost containers, recycling bins, organic linens, solar powered flashlights, bamboo tableware, stainless refillable water bottles and coffee mugs, green cleaning supplies, home gardening supplies, and books on solar installation and bio-diesel production. Much of our merchandise is made from recycled materials – used rubber tires turned into handbags and satchels, old watch parts into jewelry, discarded beer and wine bottles into glassware, recycled plastic bottles into umbrellas, candy wrappers into
purses, and old record albums into bowls
Buying from local producers reduces shipping, builds a stronger, self-reliant local economy, and increases community wealth. The Black Cat is constantly expanding our collection of locally made products - Royce Yoder’s hand thrown turquoise and brown ceramic casseroles, Lancaster County Redware in pitchers, mugs, platters and bowls, handmade naturally scented soaps and lotions by Volta, and a large collection of local jewelry, including earrings, pins and necklaces crafted by Angela Duffin utilizing cast mixed metals and semi precious stones, and jewelry made from bicycle parts by SpokesPeople in support of the Neighborhood Bike Works.
Though local comes first, not everything is available from our region, and the White Dog and Black Cat are part of a world-wide network of small-to-small, win-win business
relationships, that trade unique products in the global marketplace. The Black Cat seeks out socially beneficial products that support the local community where they originate by paying artisans fair wages and enhancing workers lives. Such products include handmade paper from an indigenous workers cooperative in Mexico, fair trade organic chocolates from Belize and Ghana, honey products from bees raised by ex-offenders on vacant lots in Chicago, and beadwork by Nepali women.
By offering these products, the Black Cat provides our customers the opportunity to vote with our dollars to build the economy we want for our future. And speaking of the importance of mindful voting, our votes cast on November 4 for the next US President will likely determine whether our government stays its present destructive course or moves toward a more just, green and peaceful economy. Come by the Black Cat this fall to explore our
new rooms filled with products for a sustainable life-style, and pick up your “Obama for President” buttons, bumper stickers and t-shirts. As citizens and conscious consumers, our votes count.
