First 'Eco-Friendly' Mall Opens In Chicago

"Marilyn Jones was a green-business pioneer. Since 1973, the owner and president of Chicago-based Consolidated Printing has been using soy-based inks and recycled paper in her sheet-fed and digital-printing business. And while she admits that in the beginning it wasn't easy being green, Jones says the past three or four years have brought tremendous attention and attracted numerous fellow practitioners to green and socially responsible business.

So many new practitioners have emerged, in fact, that the first mall in the U.S. dedicated to green and socially responsible businesses—Green Exchange—will open in Chicago early in 2008. When it does, Consolidated Printing will be one of its original tenants.

The 250,000-square-feet building will hold about 100 vendors. And not just retail outfits. Besides Consolidated Printing, Green Exchange will house an organic restaurant and café, a sustainable furniture store, a green building supply company, an eco-friendly printer, architects and designers focused on sustainability, an environmentally-friendly clothing company, a car-sharing service, a bike shop, and more. And the location is plum: an estimated 350,000 motorists pass the site each day."