Â
The director of the Gift and Thrift business campus project (where A Bowl of Good Cafe will be located in August ’09) wrote us this morning asking a question that we would like to pose to you, our friends and customers. Â He asked what he thought the business campus should be named. Â Gift and Thrift is next to Park View Plaza on Mt. Clinton Pike (directly across from the softball fields at the Eastern Mennonite High School campus). Â The campus will include “A World of Good Thrift Shop”, “Artisans Hope Gift Shop (aka, “10,000 Villages”), yours truly- “A Bowl of Good“, “Mennonite Mutual Aid”, “MCC Resource Office”, a Credit Union, and “MAX” (some kind of a Mennonite investing thing)
There are two schools of thought in naming the campus: 1) Geographic based name, e.g. “Park View Center”; 2) Values based name, e.g. “Shop and Save Center”. Â Â
Since many of the businesses revolve around good stewardship of resources and living, my suggestion was, “The Good Steward Commons”. Â The proceeds of the thrift shop go to MCC, A Bowl of Good is committed to using locally produced/grown ingredients and promoting community, and MMA is about using stewardship in money, etc. Â
Here are some questions for you:
1) What name would you suggest?
2) Does the word ‘steward’ or ‘stewardship’ mean anything to you?
3) What is a really silly, funny name for the business campus? Â I’ve suggested, “Not-Wal-Mart Plaza”. Â Others have said, “The Mennonite Strip Mall”.
I look forward to hearing your suggestions.




Has the new facility been named?
How about Steward Center, or Steward Plaza.
Jim Maust