MOM's Organic Market, Baltimore

In 1987, Scott Nash started MOM's Organic Market in his mom's garage. He repurposed it as a warehouse for organic goods, dispatching orders to local customers. But as MOM's popularity grew, Scott outgrew the garage. He rented an actual warehouse, then a bigger one, until he eventually outgrew the home-delivery business altogether and replaced it with a retail outlet. From there, the business mushroomed like a naturally grown, pesticide-free portobello—MOM's Organic Market now has more than a dozen locations across DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

The Goods

MOM's Organic Market subscribes to a singular purpose: to protect and restore the environment. Its stores stock organic and local products whenever possible, and the produce is always 100% organic. Furthermore, to help its customers, MOM's makes healthy shopping easy—none of the following ingredients can be found on the shelves: artificial colors, preservatives, and sweeteners; high-fructose corn syrup; bleached flour; meat or dairy with growth hormones or antibiotics; or hydrogenated oil. No more scanning ingredients labels to keep your family healthy.

The Extras

But supplying customers with organic produce isn't enough—MOM's takes sustainability even further. To reduce waste, MOM's banned the sale of bottled water in its stores and has long championed reusable bags and minimal plastic packaging. The family-owned company relies on renewable energy sources, such as wind and sunlight, to power its stores, which are built to conserve energy in the first place. And each location has a recycling center for customers' difficult-to-dispose-of waste such as light bulbs, batteries, and wine corks.