Sustainable building store gives old grocery new life

Billed as “the Triad’s only sustainable building and design store,” Merge has opened in the shell of the old Coe Grocery building on South Elm Street in Greensboro. The store stocks flooring, insulation, paint, tile, countertops and fixtures. In keeping with the sustainability concept, Merge stocks products on the original store shelves and has converted the grocery’s chiller into a closet and bookcase. Lumber dredged from the Cape Fear River is available for flooring, while granite countertop scraps are recycled as pavers and discarded denim is repurposed as insulation.

The business is a partnership between Michelle Kennedy, a former realtor, and Anne Croney, a retail and interior designer. Kennedy has been involved in a similar sustainable building store in the past. She and Trish Sutter opened Four Branches Green Building Center on South Chapman Street in December 2009. That store closed earlier this year.

Merge’s grand opening is scheduled to coincide with First Friday activities in downtown Greensboro this week. The opening will be catered by Iron Hen.