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Holiday shoppers hot for 'green' gifts
Survey shows Minnesotans embrace earth-friendly holiday giving.
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Forget TMX Elmo and Nintendo's Wii.
Eco-friendly products may become this year's hot holiday trend, and Twin Cities-area shoppers are among the leaders.
One in five shoppers in the metro area, or 20 percent, say they plan to purchase an eco-friendly product this holiday season, according to Deloitte's annual survey of holiday moods, which will be released Monday. Nationwide, 18 percent said they'd go green.
San Francisco led the nationwide survey of 14,135 consumers, with 27 percent saying they planned to purchase earth-friendly products. Seattle was No. 2, with 25 percent.
The survey defined "eco-friendly" broadly to include organic items as well as those that use less packaging, contain recycled materials or incorporate energy conservation in some way, said Brad Fritz, a retail expert with Deloitte in Minneapolis.
And for the "paper or plastic" decision at the grocery store? Thirty-five percent of Twin Cities shoppers pick paper compared with 27 percent nationwide, the survey found.
Apparently, though, there's a limit to how far Minnesotans will go. They made more earth-friendly choices than the national average on every question except one: going without wrapping paper to conserve paper.
Nationally, 20 percent said they'd consider doing without, while 18 percent in the Twin Cities area would.
"That's where we fall off the wagon," Fritz said. "Our green trend stops right before the wrapping paper."
Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335
Jackie Crosby • jcrosby@startribune.com
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