History 

Natural Choice Directory is new to Oregon, but has been serving a different part of the Northwest for over a dozen years.  First established as a publication in 1994 to serve the greater Seattle area, Natural Choice Directory of Puget Sound set a new standard for a regional annual directory that at once fostered the growth of the conscious consumer and the businesses that serve them.  This national marketing trend would later gain a name – Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, or LOHAS.  But at the time founding publisher and editor, Larry K. Fried was motivated largely by the desire to have a yellow pages like publication that would offer easy access to the locally available products and services that supported his own choice to live in a more ecological and natural health conscious way.

Correctly assuming his desire was shared by many others in the region he established NCD to also be an inexpensive route of marketing. Small to medium qualifying businesses that have minimal advertising dollars needed to carefully target the audience they were trying to reach.  And finally NCD Puget Sound would serve as a tool of education through informative topical articles, glossaries, and community resources.  Natural Choice Directory of Puget Sound is always free to the public – in print via hundreds of distribution points, and on line since 1995.

In 2001 family circumstances caused Larry to leave the Seattle area he called home for nearly 21 years.  Viewing local ownership and operation as a key ingredient in the sustainability of NCD, the publication was fully transferred to a new publisher that year.  After five years living in the beautiful hinterlands of Humboldt County, CA; Larry came to live in the also beautiful, but far less remote, Willamette Valley in the summer of 2006.  His wife had accepted a faculty position at the University of Oregon.   Eugene’s reputation for being one of the greenest cities in America was also a key component in choosing this place as home. 

And the Now

In his new home region, Larry has identified a similar need for a local directory that focuses on healthy and sustainable living – and thus the Natural Choice Directory for Willamette Valley is coming into being, first right here on the Web. The first annual print edition is to be released in the summer of 2008.  This new directory will be distributed throughout the metro areas of Eugene/Springfield, Corvallis/Albany, Salem, Cottage Grove, Florence and their surrounding areas. 

Natural Choice Directory is a member of the Green Business Network
established by Co-op America.