Bloggers Launch Crowdfunding Effort for All-Vegan C-store

PHILADELPHIA — V Marks the Shop LLC launched a crowdfunding effort through Kickstarter.com this week to create an all-vegan convenience store in the City of Brotherly Love.

The purpose of the c-store, according to the vegan bloggers behind the campaign, is to bring a message of “Community. Compassion. Convenience.” to Philadelphia by selling 100 percent vegan- and cruelty-free products, ranging from food to home goods.

V Marks the Shop’s team of vegan bloggers consists of Carmella Lanni and Carlo Giardina, who are also known as The Food Duo (thefoodduo.com).

Their goal is raise $50,000 by Jan. 1. V Marks the Shop is using the Kickstarter campaign as an online and offline social community effort to create the store as a meeting place for vegans and non-vegans alike, the bloggers said.

Pledges will go directly toward opening the Philadelphia c-store. Four neighborhoods are already being considered for the store’s location.

An online store is also in the works as a way for Philadelphians interested in vegan living to connect in a global community.

“Philly embraces diversity, so we embrace Philly,” Giardina said. “This is why we want to set new roots in this city for ourselves and for the store. Philadelphia is seeing veganism at work, from food to community. That energy is what we want to capture in the store.”