Asheville native Dema Badr learned her earliest business lessons locally, working for her family at Asheville Discount Pharmacy and later launching her own clothing store Zakya downtown. She draws on those experiences at her latest venture Scout Boutique.
As commercial rents rise ever higher in Asheville’s downtown, local business owners and other community members hope the area’s popularity won’t lead to increasing homogenization, the proliferation of national chains and the loss of the city’s unique character.
Local business owners have banded together under the mantra UnChain Asheville in an attempt to sway the public toward shopping with small businesses rather than chains.
In a way, upcycling is like the recycling we do with our cans and bottles: It also uses that concept of reusing and reducing waste material — but it’s not exactly cut from the same cloth.
