Nestled in a strip mall between a donut shop and Bob’s Cleaners is Locali, a new convenience store with a local, green twist. And despite the rain, this two-week-old eco-oasis in Hollywood got a steady stream of traffic when I stopped by this afternoon.

The website slogan, “Your Sustainable Neighborhood Market,” makes Locali sound like a Co-opportunity-esque grocery store, but Locali’s better described as a green 7-11. Want a cup of freshly brewed, fair trade organic coffee to go? Sure — and you can even get a packet of dry soy creamer with that if you don’t have time to stir it in. Need your afternoon organic chocolate fix? Pick from Equal Exchange, Endangered Species, and Green & Black’s bars. Crave a grassfed 100% beef hot dog? Locali’s got ready to eat Let’s Be Frank dogs — and gluten-free brownie from The Sensitive Baker for dessert.

While Locali caters to the grab-n-go crowd, new visitors will inevitably get sucked in, checking out all the cool local, organic, and fair trade products they never even knew existed. Who knew you could get a biodegradable loofah kitchen scrubbie — in a cute penguin shape?

For drinkers, there’s a sizable collection of organic and biodynamic wines, bottles of local and organic beers you can assemble into customized 4-packs — in reused containers! — and even organic sake. Oh, and you can browse through a small collection of KnobStoppers — vintage door wine stoppers — in case you think you won’t drink the whole bottle.

Plus, Locali has a lot of eco versions of handy everyday items, from organic cotton tampons to Twist kitchen scrubbers to Begley’s Best cleaning products. Some uber-environmentalists may cringe at organic lollipops, but others’ll appreciate the high fructose corn syrup-free sweets.

Locali really has gone out of its way to get local. I recognized a whole bunch of items from my local farmers’ market, like the Adam’s Ranch olive oil to Redwood Hill Farm goat milk products. And I saw goat milk soap from Chivas Skin Care, organic and fair trade lotions and chapsticks from Anti-Body, and copies of The Urban Homestead.

On the way out’s a neat 3-container recycling-and-composting system. Locali provides a few small tables and benches outside for quick dining — though those weren’t too popular on this rainy day.

I ended up leaving with a bottle of gluten free Green’s amber ale (I was curious) and an organic spinach-and-mushrooms tamale made by La Guera Tamalera (yum!). Check out more photos of Locali here, then pay the place a visit!

Locali. 5825 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles. 323.466.1360. 7 am – 11 pm daily.

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