Interviews

Yvonne Chen and Jeremy Crown
Partners of OTSU
www.veganmart.com
Interviewed by Doh Driver

Tell us a bit about yourselves. When and how did you become vegan?
Y: I stopped eating beef in 8th grade after my science teacher showed us a film about how cattle ranching was disrupting the prairie ecosystem and then told us how they were cutting down rainforests in Brazil to raise cows for hamburgers. His challenge to us was to go a week without eating a hamburger. Well, I took it a bit further. I gradually phased out different forms of meat and became vegetarian in high school. I didn't know about veganism, though, until I entered college. A friend told me he was vegan and while it seemed very foreign at first, it made sense after thinking about it. I have now been vegan since 1993.

J: I became vegetarian when I was fourteen because of reading a book about the environmental impact of the meat industry. It wasn't until 8 years later that I met several compassionate vegans that helped change my mind about eating dairy. That was in 1998 and I've been vegan ever since.

How did you come up with the idea for your vegan store? How did you get it started?
Y: Jeremy had been laid off from his second "dot-com" job in one year and was tired of the whole system. He wanted to work for himself and so we began thinking of things we could do. We thought of opening a vegan cafe, but didn't think we had the experience and time to make is successful. We then thought of doing a vegan lifestyle magazine (now there's Herbivore!) since we had both done 'zines before and that was something that was lacking in the community. While we started work on that, we had a brainstorm one day that something else that we lacked was a place we could go locally to buy vegan shoes. Every pair of shoes we had mail ordered never fit and had to be exchanged and we thought it would be great to be able to go to a vegan shoe store to try them on first. That was how our store idea was born. We were selling music and independent comics through our zine/label web site (www.zumonline.com) and wanted to incorporate that into the store as well. So in order to make it all make sense while we were writing our business plan, we decided that instead of a shoe store, we would be a vegan lifestyle boutique.

So we worked on our business plan and then looked for spaces. We were lucky to have enough savings to start the business without taking out any loans, but there was definitely a learning curve, as neither of us had run a retail store before. In fact, after a year, we were (and still are) still learning and trying new things, but that's what keeps it interesting.

You have an eclectic mix of products, from foods to comic books to shoes. Is there a rhyme and reason to the mix? Do you find it challenging to have such a diverse inventory?
It is challenging to an extent to have such diverse inventory. Some people come in and are confused. Granted we only have a handful of vegan customers who also love indie comics and music, but we think of it as keeping to the idea of it being a lifestyle store. It really shows people that veganism is not just about what you eat.

How do you find the products that you carry?
It's a combination of research and being solicited. We did most of the sourcing to start with and as people find out about us, they contact us. Sometimes people are in the store and think something they or their friends make would fit in really well. We still always have our eye out for new products though, as we like to offer things that are more unique.

How can you assure your customers that your products are truly vegan?
We do as much research as we can, but it really comes down to the vendor. We try to work with vegan vendors whenever possible as we know they share the same ethics. If they are not vegan, they have to understand our requirements. Since we can't watch everything being made, you have to work with people who are trustworthy. As it is, we don't like to think of veganism in purist terms, as no one can be 100% vegan (e.g., municipal water supplies are usually filtered through bone char and there are bugs in everything we eat). We think of the things we sell as being as vegan as possible.

Do you promote veganism in other ways, such as through activism?
We certainly support organizations that are promoting veganism and animal welfare, but the store is pretty full-time promotion already. Providing an alternative is one of the best forms of activism one can do. Instead of just telling people not to buy something, we are giving them something to buy. It's more of a pragmatic approach.

How many people do you employ? Are your employees vegan?
We have one part-time intern who is vegan. I think anyone who works for us would have to be vegan as they are best able to understand and explain the store. And we want the store's money to go to vegans as much as possible--it's crucial to sustaining and growing the community.

A vegan style shop is not exactly mainstream. Do you get many non-vegans in your store? Do you hear of many "converts"?
Actually, a good percentage of our customers are non veg*n. And that is exactly what we wanted. We made a decision to make the store as welcoming to all as possible, and that meant, besides offering attractive products, avoiding conspicuous messages that are negative or preachy. Message products have their place, but we wanted customers to come in open-minded instead of on the defensive (or not at all!). And we have been successful at that. Once they're inside and browsing, then we can engage them and hopefully provide information about veganism they would otherwise not be exposed to.

No one has told us they converted from eating meat to becoming a vegan just because of our store, but I know we have helped a lot of people to start thinking about the subject and making their first vegan purchases. And we have definitely helped a lot of vegetarians take the next step to veganism. We always encourage people to do what they can, especially if it's a matter of giving up those last few items. And we have had a number of new vegans tell us that we have been great in supporting them in their new lifestyle.

To what do you contribute your success?
We would say that our personal relationships with customers and vendors have contributed to our success so far, as well as our unique selection of goods. Selling stuff we really like helps because we have a genuine passion about it which is really evident, and people appreciate that.

What have been the biggest challenges in starting and running a vegan business?
Learning how to run the store well has been a challenge in starting the business. Anyone with money can open a business, but making it last is the hard part. We figure out smarter ways to do things as we go along, but it can take an awful long time to have those epiphanies.

Is there a message you hope to spread through your work?
We think we are definitely spreading our main message, which is that veganism is accessible and easy. We don't think about it as what you can't have, but as all this great stuff you CAN have, be that in food or fashion. When it comes down to it, veganism is how and what you choose to consume and people have a mental block that it is too difficult. We're here to say it's not.

Doh Driver is the full-time single parent of Griffin, her 3-year-old healthy, breastfeeding, joyous little vegan. She is also a part-time yoga instructor in Florida, and became completely vegan as of New Year's Day, after 12 years of saying, as a vegetarian, she could never be vegan. By making peaceful and compassionate choices in her life, she hopes to provide her son with a model of mindful, gentle living.

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