Three women, Evelyn Johnson, Madeiria Myrieckes and Cindy Pardo are the owners of The Fair Trader. We began talking about opening a Fair Trade retail store about a year and a half ago.
This has been a most amazing journey. What began as one of those “why don’t we?” moments became the first Fair Trade retail store in Chicago. We made a plan that embodied our vision, found Fair Trade Certified suppliers, searched our Hyde Park neighborhood for a space that was just right, and rehabbed that space to become the colorful, bright retail store we had envisioned. The goods from around the world began to arrive, and we were in business.
None of us had ever owned a retail store before, but each of us brought different gifts and abilities to the party. Evelyn is our computer guru, with many years experience in the IT world. Madeiria worked in an accounting office before this undertaking, though she is trained as a nurse. Cindy is a fiber artist with retail experience at a local artist’s co-op. Our diversity of backgrounds has made The Fair Trader work, along with our passion for the Fair Trade movement and our commitment to bringing our customers beautiful goods from around the world.
And we do love our customers! They stop in just to say “hi” and to see what’s new. They bring in their friends. They tell us what they’d like to see us carry in the store, and they pass out brochures and put up posters to help us advertise. They bring in their children to select something special for Mom or Dad. They care as much about treating people fairly as we do. We are so grateful for each of them.
