By Chelsea Hadaway
chadaway@scbiznews.com
Published April 6, 2009

Queen Street Grocery has been chosen as the location for the first Carrotmob event in the Lowcountry, hosted Saturday by Green Drinks Charleston.

Previous coverage: ‘Carrotmob’ to converge on businesses in Charleston to better environment

Carrotmob is a network of consumers who support socially responsible local businesses that are trying to be green. The campaign was started in San Francisco and brought to Charleston through Green Drinks Charleston.

“We want to make it easy for people to green their business,” said Jason Cronen, the organizer of Green Drinks Charleston and Carrotmob. “People are willing to make the changes, but only if they don’t break the bank.”

To support that, Carrotmob organizes consumers and encourages them to buy what they would normally buy at the selected venue that has stepped up to become green, he said. Then Carrotmob helps the store use that money to become more energy-efficient.

For its first event, Green Drinks and Carrotmob contacted locally owned coffee shops, cafes, groceries, corner markets and bars around Charleston.

Queen Street Grocery made the highest bid; it pledged 33% of sales on Saturday toward energy-efficient retrofits.

“Whatever you would normally buy — crepes, a bottle of wine, coffee — come buy it on Saturday at Queen Street Grocery,” Cronen said.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Cronen said he is planning numerous “surprises” from about 9 a.m. to noon. The Cut Co. will also be at the store, filming a documentary on the Carrotmob concept.

The next Carrotmob event will feature restaurants and will be going on this summer. For more information on Carrotmob, go online.