ECHOstore to open in Cebu
ECHOstore will sell at the Banilad Town Center (BTC) every weekend this December before it finally opens its Cebu store right outside the Maria Luisa enclave. The BTC is a hubbub of activity especially on weekends with organic and farmers market and food stalls.
ECHOstore’s Cebu licensees, Johann and Meyan Young, are selling at BTC for all the weekends this season starting last Nov. 29 and 30.
ECHOstore with its tri concept( including the ECHOmarket selling fresh produce and ECHOcafe serving natural and healthy food) opened this year in Davao. The Cebu branch will open in January.
“Now with its online presence as well, ECHOstore has kept its position in the market as“market connectors, innovators and co-producers,” the company said in a press statement.
It has a development arm called the ECHOsi Foundation which conducts trainings, workshops and capacity building seminars with other non government organizations and local government units around the country.
Its Great Women platform is now on its second phase with the Philippine Commission on Women, Department of Trade and Industry and other agencies. Great Women helps identified women groups develop their products for specialty and international markets.
This Christmas, ECHOstore has prepared special food and home themed gift baskets.
“The selections have become a favorite of companies for meaningful giveaways and even homemakers as specialty gift packs for people wanting to start a sustainable lifestyle. All these while helping many small producers get exposed to an upscale market,” the company said.
An ECHOstore license costs about P200,000 and total investment depends on the size and included concepts. “But the requirement to be a licensee is to practice the lifestyle and believe in the philosophy ECHOstore founders espouse. That of providing self, community and planet with good, clean and fair choices. That of believing in traceability and provenance of local ingredients and healthy choices,” the company said.
“The green and organic trend is a global trend that is growing by double digit rates.
Today more farm to table restaurants are opening and more people are conscious about organic and natural food. ECHOstore is a good influence not just for good health but for promoting exceptional local products as well. It is one of the first consumer-oriented social enterprises when it entered the retail scene in 2008,” it said. (PR)