Welcome to the Simply Living Sustainable Business Directory. Our goal for this directory was to create a community resource for people in Central Ohio to find local sustainable businesses and organizations.
How to Use
You can toggle between Businesses and Organizations by using the dropdown box on the left. From there you can scroll through broad categories for both Businesses and Organizations, or you can search by name, type, location, or keyword.
In order to subdivide larger categories, we have also created a series of searchable tags. For example, bike shops are in the larger Retail category, but also tagged with keywords bike, bikes, and cycling — so if you search for one of those terms, they will come up.
Our Geodirectory tool includes a map where you can see the locations of businesses and organizations or find one near you. Each listing includes a short profile, photo, address, contact information, website, and map.
Criteria
In order to be included in this directory, businesses and organizations had to meet two criteria: They need to be both local and sustainable. But what exactly does that mean?
By local, we mean businesses that are owned in Central Ohio. Most of the listings in our directory are small independent businesses, but we do include a few larger businesses or organizations that have more than one location. In those cases, the business needs to be headquartered in Central Ohio.
The other requirement to be in the directory is that businesses and organizations be sustainable. By that we mean businesses and organizations that either:
–> Help people become more sustainable in their lives — for example, bike shops, solar installers, refilleries, and more.
–> Have sustainable practices in their own operations — for example, recycling, avoiding plastic use, energy efficiency, and more.
To get into our directory, a business or organization does not have to be perfect on sustainability — but they do need to be taking steps. We are happy to help advise businesses and organizations on basic ideas to increase sustainability, as well as refer them to community resources such as Columbus GreenSpot or SWACO Business, where they can learn more about sustainable business practices.
Your Action Makes a Difference
Part of the purpose of this directory is to support our local economy by keeping shopping dollars in Central Ohio. Shifting just 10% of our spending from chain stores to local businesses in Franklin County will generate $312 million dollars and 5000+ new jobs, according to a meta analysis of studies conducted by Civic Economics. This directory will help Central Ohioans get the most bang for our bucks by keeping them in Central Ohio. Browse this directory to find delightful local places to shop, eat, gather, and more.
Work in Progress
Finally, this directory is a work in progress. We started with several business and organization listings, but we know we have not covered it all. If you know of a Central Ohio business or organization that should be in this directory — or if you see inaccurate information or want to send any feedback about this directory — please reach out to us at hello@simplyliving.org.
Many thanks to Max Thesing, our summer fellow who built the bulk of this directory in Summer 2022, and to Mayda Sanchez of Unlimited Media who created this website. Thanks also to the Columbus Foundation for funding this work. This directory would not have been possible without your support.