Nadine Sullivans shop sells old Levis jeans that will keep your house warm, rather than your wardrobe in vogue.


She has paper that at one time you could write ononly now you can prepare food on.


Sullivans shop, Eco Depot Inc., carries a variety of products in a spectrum of colors, but theyre all green.


Eco Depot is a retail store that sells environmentally friendly, or green, building products and energy systems.


Founded in 1994 as a store that sold commercial pollution-control systems, the companys product mix has expanded and evolved over the past 12 years, Sullivan says.


As energy costs have escalated and the concept of sustainable construction has become more mainstream, the companys customer base has broadened as well.


Its not just for tree huggers anymore, Sullivan says.


The company has one employee in addition to Sullivan and a couple of commissioned-based salespeople who work as independent contractors. Sullivan says the company is on track to post about $400,000 in sales this year.


The companys merchandise includes building products, renewable energy systems, and air-purification systems. Revenuewise, Sullivan says solar-powered electric systems, which start at $10,000, account for the largest portion of the companys sales, and Solatube skylights are among the more popular items.


Its building products are items referenced in the GreenSpec Directory, which lists more than 1,850 items that are made out of recycled materials or are considered environmentally friendly for other reasons. Sullivan says Eco Depot doesnt carry all of the products in that directory, but uses it as a resource to determine what products are deemed green and what new products it might want to carry.


For example, the company carries a cotton-fiber insulation that comes in rolls, similar to conventional fiberglass insulation. Unlike the conventional insulation, though, the cotton-fiber product is 85 percent old blue jeans, Sullivan says.


One of its newer products is PaperStone countertops, which are made of a proprietary paper thats tightly compressed to give it the look of slate or soapstone. Made at least 50 percent of post-consumer recycled paper, the countertop generally is more expensive than Formica, but less expensive than natural stone.


Other products include marmoleum, a linoleum floor-tile alternative made of a mixture of linseed oil, wood flour, pine rosin, jute, and limestone; Eco-shake roof shingles, which are made of recycled vinyl and wood and are designed to look similar to cedar shingles; and glass cabinet handles and other accent pieces made of recycled window panes.


The energy systems, in addition to the solar units, include wind turbines, waste oil heaters and boilers, and related products.


Sullivan started the business as WOW Pollution Control Systems in 1994, with the WOW acronym standing for wind, oil, and water.


She and her brother, Bruce Gage, had been working for a company in that niche market that had gone out of business. Gage had some sales still pending at the time the previous company closed its doors, and Sullivan says, We thought, Somebody is going to get those sales. It might as well be us.


A few years after starting, the company expanded to include solar and wind electric systems and changed its name to WOW Energy Systems.


In 2003, after the businesss product mix evolved to include more items for residential construction, the company incorporated as Eco Depot Inc. Sullivan says a few of her siblings invested in the company at that time, but she owns 96 percent of the company.


The companys shop had been located in Spokane Valley, but it moved earlier this month to a new location along East Sprague, a mile east of downtown Spokane.


Now, a 103-year-old retail building there with ties to Spokanes past is home to the store that sells products aimed at sustaining its future.


Located at the southwest corner of Sprague and Perry Street, the front part of the 4,800-square-foot building housed a restaurant and grocery store when it was built. The back portion was a carriage house for the city of Spokane.


According to lore, Butch Cassidy worked here, she says, referring to the notorious turn-of-the-20th-century train and bank robber who some say lived in Spokane late in life.


The building, which most recently housed an antique shop, is being retrofitted with many of the products that Eco Depot carries.


An in-floor heating system powered when the sun shines by solar energy is under the stores floors, which are covered with marmoleum.


Solar energy can power the rest of the building as well, so that the building can operate completely off of the power grid on sunny days.


No-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint covers the walls, and Solatube skylights provide some light.


Sullivan says Eco Depot bought a vacant lot just west of the structure at the same time it bought the building, and the company plans to put a parking lot there. A courtyard is located at the buildings southwest corner, where customers will enter the building from the parking lot, and that patio area is lined by pavers with solar-powered lights built into them.


The building is more than five times bigger than the companys previous space, which allows it to display more products, Sullivan says.


We want this to be a one-stop green shop, she says.


Eco Depot is one of a handful of shops that Sullivan is aware of in the Northwest that concentrate exclusively on sustainable building supplies and systems. Others that she is aware of are located in Moscow, Idaho; Bozeman, Mont.; and Seattle.


Contact Linn Parish at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at linnp@spokanejournal.com.