Businesses dedicated to preservation, promotion of natural world open joint store
Two Springfield businesses, dedicated to promoting the importance of the natural world, held their joint grand opening earlier this month.
With pre-established businesses in the community, owners of Grow for Good 417 and Illumine Collect came together to co-open a shipping container store at Metro Eats. The businesses held their grand opening at the multi-service food truck park on April 1.
"The opportunity came up for us to just share a container, rather than having our own separate ones, and I felt like the two businesses kind of complimented each other with the overall theme," Illumine Collect owner Jeremy Lux said.
Illumine Collect
Lux founded Illumine Collect, an apparel store, in 2017, after spending much of his life, up until that point, traveling internationally for BMX racing. As he decided to phase out of racing, Lux was still interested in the outdoor adventure lifestyle, so he began to conduct research on how he could stay involved.
It didn't take long before he had a growing list of nonprofits across the country that make the outdoors more sustainable, accessible or welcoming.
"Once I learned about those different nonprofits, I wanted to figure out how to partner with them, start a business that then help raise funds and awareness for them so they could obviously use their platform to help others experience the same thing I experienced through BMX traveling and whatnot," Lux said.
Through different apparel, stickers, mugs, koozies and books, Illumine Collect has raised around $30,160 for 23 different nonprofits nationwide, Lux told the News-Leader, adding that 20% of the sales from all Illumine Collect products are donated to these nonprofits, "cherry picked" by Lux.
Some merchandise, like Illumine Collect's "everyday apparel" may benefit any nonprofit the business has partnered with, but other pieces, like those in The Community Collection, benefit specific nonprofits.
For each month in 2023, Illumine Collect is highlighting one nonprofit with uniquely designed merchandise for this collection. For the month of April, Illumine Collect is featuring Keep Virginia Cozy, a nonprofit dedicated to the protection of Virginia's public lands.
Local nonprofits Lux has worked with include James River Basin Partnership, TrailSpring, Ozark Greenways, Burrell Behavioral Health's Be Well Community, Boys and Girls Club of Springfield and Springfield Sculpture Walk.
Lux said he has worked with a handful of different freelance artists over the years to create the designs for Illumine Collect's merchandise. All of the products he either prints himself or at Crackerjack Shack in Republic.
Along with merchandise, Lux hosts and produces a podcast, "Life in Motion" through Illumine Collect. As of Thursday, Lux has produced 146 episodes, centered around different nonprofits and outdoor adventure efforts. "Life in Motion" is available on iTunes and Spotify.
Aside from Illumine Collect, Lux is a full-time social media manager, working from home and caring for his three sons who are one, three and four. He also cares for farm animals.
Grow for Good 417
What started as a pandemic project for Craig Granger and his partner has bloomed into a full-fledged business of living art, plants and local art. Granger started Grow for Good 417 about four and a half years ago, but it was during the pandemic when things really began to take off.
"We had too many plants, and so our pandemic project was to build a greenhouse, so we ended up filling that up with plants," Granger said with a laugh.
At the time, Granger and his partner made living art displays for nonprofit auctions and raffles. After managing a successful booth at the inaugural Pickwick Street Fair, Granger starting manning a table at the Metro Eats Market. This is where he met Lux and the two began discussing the idea of opening a store together.
A love for plants has been a part of Granger's life for as long as he can remember. Growing up, his family managed a sizeable garden and he helped plant and harvest fruits and vegetables at a young age.
"My grandma, she was the president of the Cactus Society in Memphis, Tennessee, so I would go down and help her out with various events when I was a kid growing up," Granger said. "Since then, I ended up getting a degree in biology, and I was always the one who had plants in the dorm room or wherever I was living."
Additional to plants and art for sale, Granger hosts Plant pARTies, a collaboration with Artistree Pottery. Participants paint a piece of pottery at Artistree, where it is fired and then they can bring it into Grow for Good 417 for their plants. Granger has also hosted plant-centric events at Mother's Brewing Company, Mama Jean's Natural Market and Culture Flock.
Granger said all the plants available at Grow for Good 417 were either grown by him, a local nursery or a grower he frequently works with in St. Louis.
Like Lux, Granger also works a full-time job outside of Grow for Good 417. Granger is a biology, microbiology and pathophysiology instructor at Ozarks Technical Community College.
Grow for Good 417 and Illumine Collect are located in the Red Door Shipping Container at Metro Eats at 2463 W. Sunshine St. Granger said the shop's hours may fluctuate, as he and Lux balance full-time jobs. Initially, the shop will be open Thursdays from 4-7 p.m., Friday from 2-7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Grow for Good 417, Illumine Collect open joint shop at Metro Eats
