Store also offers organic make-up and skin products
By Staff Report
Many Morgan Hill residents feel a personal responsibility to take care of the world’s natural environment. This community philosophy is reflected in the People and Planet store, a certified “green” business run by Mike and Erin Monroe that offers customers an extensive range of fair-trade, gluten-free, and organic foods as well as environmentally-friendly household products.
Mike Monroe in the People and Planet store. (Photo by Marty Cheek)
Started in 1994 in the Monroe’s Gilroy home where they sold fair-trade coffee out of their living room, People and Planet has grown into a favorite Morgan Hill destination for customers who want a wide selection for their special dietary needs. The store has grown so popular that people travel from as far as San Benito County and Silicon Valley to purchase its specialty products.
The idea for People and Planet started when Mike Monroe volunteered time with St. Mary Church’s St. Joseph Food Bank in Gilroy.
“I started reading and talking to people about fair-trade economic justice,” he said. “Combining what the Catholic faith teaches — and a lot of other Christian churches follow the same protocol — when you read and understand what social justice means from a Christian perspective, you start looking at how can you apply that in the course of every day in whatever you do. I became more and more interested in seeing how I could develop a for-profit business that would allow me to pursue and fulfill what I thought were the tenets of Catholic social teaching. So I began getting involved in the fair-trade products, which is about buying from developing countries and understanding how people live in developing countries and how their economies work.”
As People and Planet expanded, the Monroes moved their enterprise to Morgan Hill to a shop on Vineyard Boulevard. Their biggest customer for their fair-trade coffee was Specialized Bicycles located directly behind their store. One Specialized employee was gluten intolerant, and asked if the Monroes might be able to provide gluten-free nutrition bar. That request began People and Planet’s expansion to offer a large selection of gluten-free products including cookies, cake and bread mixes, and pasta.
“Because of our gluten-free products, we have a lot of people who drive from Hollister and also the South San Jose area. As we develop a reputation for having a really good selection of gluten-free products, people through word of mouth or Facebook and all the social media are able to find us, even though we’re tucked away in a building that’s not really designed as a retail space.”
The store also offers organic makeup and skin products: “When you put stuff on your skin, your body absorbs it,” Monroe said. “We also try to incorporate in the purchasing decisions where it’s coming from, how it’s good for the customer, and finally, how to dispose of it or recycle it.”
People and Planet follows a business philosophy of providing many products from local sources. Among its many locally-produced products, it sells Oils of Paicines, Glaum Egg Ranch’s 100 percent cage-free chicken eggs, Uvas Gold honey, Opa Helmut’s Rub of German spice blends, raw dairy products from Claravale Farm and a weekly box of in-season vegetables through local farmer Tim Chiala’s “Timptation” Community Supported Agriculture program.
“We are helping our customers purchase local and go with organic ingredients. And we try to give them products that have minimal processing,” Monroe said. “That’s the right thing to do. It’s easy to say ‘buy local,’ but the farmers have to have someone who will support them. That’s why I buy from them.”
The store is located at 15750 Vineyard Blvd., Suite 160. Call (408) 782-2700.
