Mast General Store and Environmental Stewardship
By Rebecca Jacobson, project manager
Downtown Columbia scored a major economic victory last week with the opening of Mast General Store. With their vast selection of shoes, clothing, home goods, gifts, ole-timey toys and barrels of candy, it’s a fun, feel-good kind of place to shop, and city leaders and residents alike are all hoping it will be the catalyst for change in downtown Columbia.
What we believe makes Mast Store an even more exciting addition to Columbia is the fact that they are a company with values deeply rooted in corporate social responsibility (CSR). All the way back to their original store in the late 1800’s, Mast Store has always maintained a culture of contributing to their local community.
If you just consider their business philosophy of locating in cities where they believe the store can be a catalyst for Main Street revitalization, as was the case in Greenville, SC and Knoxville, TX, that in itself is a pretty significant way to make a difference. They are an employee-owned company, supporters of United Way, very active in promoting community events, and they hold several annual projects to benefit local food banks, shelters and others in need.
What I’m really excited about and energized by is Mast Store’s commitment to the environment.  Their sense of environmental stewardship runs deep and is evident in these very progressive programs:
- Green Power – the company purchases carbon credits in North Carolina and Tennessee to help offset the impact made by their delivery trucks.
- Recycling – all stores recycle plastic, glass, paper, aluminum, bi-metal cans and cardboard, and their shopping bags have a special additive that quickens the decomposition process (I mean really, who does that?)
- Mast Transit – employees earn incentives for carpooling, riding their bike to work, walking to work or taking public transportation (If only I could get an incentive for carpooling my daughter to school the past couple of years!)
- Local Land Trust Day – the first Saturday of every June, Mast Store donates 20 percent of the day’s sales to their partner land trust in the community of each of their stores; think about it, on this one day, 20 percent of the sales from every store goes back into the local community specifically to support land conservation – I’d say that’s some pretty impressive CSR.
The Columbia partner for Local Land Trust Day is the Congaree Land Trust (CLT), a small organization that has conserved more than 27,000 acres of land in central South Carolina. CLT board members, volunteers and staff will be on hand all day to educate shoppers about land trusts, conservation easements and the status of land protection in central South Carolina – something you might not have ever considered it weren’t for Mast General Store and their tremendous sense of corporate social responsibility.
If you’d like your shopping dollars to have an impact on the local community, head downtown to Mast Store this Saturday, June 4 and see first-hand this great company that has moved in on Main Street in Columbia.
– Rebecca Jacobson
