While walking down 24th in the mission I came across this store called Praxis. Inside there was art, handmade jewelry, sewing machines, locally designed clothes, organic fair trade goods, and vegan condoms among other things. I asked the woman working there, “What’s the story behind this store? It’s really cool but there’s so much random stuff I wouldn’t expect to be all in one place.”

“Yeah, it is pretty diverse. It’s my labor of love. After living in this neighborhood awhile I realized I wanted to create a place for the community. The stuff we carry is pragmatic. It’s whatever the community actually needs, and what people from the community bring in to sell.”

“Very cool. So are you from San Francisco?”

“I moved here from Maine a few years ago.”

“And how’d you come up with this idea?”

“Well when I moved here for a graduate program in activism and social change and I worked for 7 years in night clubs to save the money to open this store. When I had saved enough I started this store and it’s just evolved based on the feedback and flow of what people need. I’m still figuring it out and I’m learning everyday but all in all what we’re doing here feels really good.”