Outdoor retailer Everarbor opens in Van Aken Market Hall

April 10, 2024

Outdoor retailer Everarbor opens in Van Aken Market Hall

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio – The outdoor company Everarbor is opening in Van Aken Market Hall in Shaker Heights on April 11. The Northeast Ohio-based seller of outdoor apparel, outdoor equipment and Everbrew fertilizer will take over the space formerly occupied by Adun Spice Company. This means full occupancy for the market hall.

Van Aken is the outdoor brand’s third location in less than 10 years of business. The first two are in Crocker Park and Tremont.

The clothing line happened by accident. Derek Skapes, who has bachelor’s degree in business administration and environmental studies, had started a tree service as a side hustle. At the time he was working at Cleveland Metroparks as an arborist in the Forestry Division.

As his tree service and landscape business grew, he developed a logo to brand it. That logo was golden. A customer told him it looked “like a clothing company from Seattle” and she would buy gear from a brand like that.

What started as a t-shirt has evolved into a line of Everarbor clothing from tank tops to sweatshirts. Skapes says the most popular items are the flannel shirts. These are available for men and women.

The company also sells outdoor gear for hikers and backpackers, items from carabiners to a portable fire pit. A line of candles – Everglow – has scents like backyard campfire and forest morning.

Ever the entrepreneur, Skapes grew another opportunity from his landscape business – Everbrew organic fertilizer. That is also sold at retail.

“We take waste from coffee shops and breweries and process it into a specialty fertilizer,” he says. He was inspired by a project he had worked on in the Pacific Northwest. There he used brewery waste to fertilize conifers in a salmon stream restoration endeavor.

The fertilizer has been analyzed by the University of Massachusetts to confirm its wealth of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium nutrients.

“Everbrew is trademarked and certified with the department of agriculture for plants, crops, fruit trees and more,” Skapes notes. “When people find out about it people tend to really like it. It sells out every spring.” The Van Aken store will have four-pound bags of Everbrew for $10. Larger two- and five-pound buckets are available at the Tremont store.

Full article on MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/outdoor-retailer-everarbor-opens-in-van-aken-market-hall/ar-BB1kWK0i

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