Still Eagle >> Wholesale The WholeSale Story

FROM ECO STORE…

In 1990, Still Eagle Planetary Persuasions was a small eco-store that sold (among other things) water purification, local crafts, wilderness posters & t-shirts, environmental and political books, buttons and bumper stickers. Our bywords were hemp, organic, bamboo, local, recycled, natural and fair trade.

Still Eagle’s name referred to the legal edge that we walked by importing books, magazines and products that had been banned in other countries or provinces, but that were ‘Still Legal’ in this one.

TO ALL THINGS HEMP

And then came the hat. Well, more like a dozen hats. A local crafter from the Slocan Valley up the in Kootenays of British Columbia came in with the first hemp hat we had ever seen. At the time, it seemed a revolution too exciting to ignore. We were already selling the classic hemp bible, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, and knew of the many powerful healing applications of hemp. But hemp as fabric? Hemp as clothing? The possibilities for “Nature’s Ancient Wonder Plant” seemed endless. Soon, we were Western Canada’s first hemp store, selling all things hemp, including bags, paper, twine shoes rope, clothing (and a few unsuccessful first attempts at clothing).

TO CANADA’S ONE-STOP HEMP SHOP

At that time most Hemp products originated south of the border, many in California. It was no mean feat in the mid-nineties to bring items to Canada through customs for our retail store! It didn’t make sense to go through all that trouble for small orders, so we contacted our suppliers, and for a modest distributor discount, began placing larger orders, handling the customs headaches, and supplying smaller stores with products made from this incredible plant.

Before long we were a wholesale source for the wave of hemp and eco-stores that swept over the Canadian landscape in the nineties. By the mid 90’s we were known as Canada’s "One-Stop Hemp Shop" and even “largest hemp distributor”. Our low margins, fast service, and friendly (some would say naive) credit policies made us a modest sized distributor of hemp products.

TO MORE ALTERNATIVE FIBRES

In the past 15 years, things have evolved. Hemp (along with organic, recycled, and our other missions) have become household words. Even Wal-Mart has learned to spell "green", and if you believed them, you’d think all the major corporations are racing to see who can save the planet first. Our original bywords – once "weird" and “fringe” and “idealistic” – have become embedded in the mainstream.

Naturally, in the wholesale world there were also changes. Many hemp suppliers – including us – have branched out to include other alternative fibres like bamboo, organic cotton, and wool. This widens our selection of sustainable and fair-trade goods, even though it leaves our "Still Eagle is HEMPLAND” slogan feeling proud, but a little dated.

TO MORE CANADIAN SUPPLIERS

Another welcome change has been the expansive growth in Canadian suppliers. In the past decade dozens – if not hundreds – of new Canadian suppliers of hemp and alternative eco fibres have cropped up and become established. At Still Eagle, we love to keep things local, and the travel footprint small, so we have added many Canadian companies to our roster of wholesale suppliers over the years.

AND HERE WE ARE TODAY

As a vibrant retail store and a small-scale distributor we currently work with a wide variety of suppliers, including many Canadian ones. We distribute for suppliers:

who have products we (and our customers) like,
who have a strong eco and fair trade ethic,
for whom our distribution works well,
and when we can charge the same wholesale price as the supplier does directly.

For more details on Why We Give Good Wholesale, please follow this link.

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Happy wholesale shopping.

Nick Jen Deb

The wholesale crew at Still Eagle.