Rooted in sustainability since its inception in 1968, Royal Robbins furthers its commitment to environmental stewardship by partnering with the Green Business Bureau (GBB) for its brand retail stores in Berkeley and Modesto, Calif.; Denver and Seattle. The partnership ensures Royal Robbins’ four retail stores are gold-level certified – a designation that recognizes efforts each store has made to improve sustainability practices.
“Sustainability is ingrained in everything we do at Royal Robbins,” said Kaytlin Moeller, regional sustainability manager at Fenix Outdoor North America. “This partnership with Green Business Bureau empowers Royal Robbins store teams to take ownership of sustainability in their stores by assessing their current practices and providing initiatives they can implement to reduce their impact.”
Using GBB tools, each Royal Robbins retail store tackles a range of initiatives including eliminating single use utensils in break areas, choosing to refill soap containers rather than purchase new ones and increasing engagement in community environmental programs.
Green Business Bureau’s online tools are personalized so store managers can identify opportunities to make their operations more sustainable while ensuring all new practices align with the needs of the store and community.
In Seattle, Royal Robbins retail store manager Rene Levya explained how GBB has been a useful platform in implementing more sustainable practices. “My favorite thing we’ve done at my store in Seattle is putting timers on our lights to ensure that we aren’t wasting power. Our whole store system is timed too, with the help of our building management. At a certain time our lights dim, if the AC is running it slowly powers down to only allow ventilation, and our computers and in-store electronics enter into nighttime mode to reduce all power usage.”
Recycling also has become an important initiative in Seattle. “We partner with one of Seattle’s school systems to upcycle plastic and not create waste. A student comes to our store every week on bike to pick up our plastics and transport them back to the school. Just last week we recycled 20 pounds of plastic,” Levya said.
“Green Business Bureau is excited to be partnering with one of the most sustainable apparel brands in the retail industry,” said Tom Permatteo, CEO and founder of the Green Business Bureau. “We congratulate Royal Robbins for its accomplishments and green business certification. It’s great to see Royal Robbins store managers and employees engaging with our EcoPlanner and EcoLibrary to take their commitment to sustainability to the next level.”
Royal Robbins will continue to use Green Business Bureau’s tools to identify projects to improve sustainability performance in its retail store operations. The goal is for each store to complete at least one new initiative per quarter.
To learn more about sustainability at Royal Robbins, visit: https://www.royalrobbins.com/us/en-us/explore/sustainability.
