Real Goods
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| Corporation | |
| Genre | Off-grid and sustainable living |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | John Schaeffer |
| Headquarters | 13771 S. Highway 101, Hopland, California, USA |
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Key people
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President and Founder John Schaeffer |
| Products | Renewable energy systems, homesteading, sustainable living goods |
| Website | RealGoods.com |
Real Goods Trading Corporation (commonly referred to as Real Goods) is a retail store and mail order / e-commerce business located in Hopland, California that sells renewable energy systems, homesteading supplies, and other environmentally friendly goods and resources for people interested in living off the grid or with a low environmental impact.
In 1977, Real Goods President and founder John Schaeffer was 29 years old and living in an off-grid community in Mendocino County, California. As one of the few members of the community with a vehicle and a commute, he became the designated person to pick up supplies for the community. In 1978, Schaeffer took $3,000 in savings and a $5,000 loan from his father and opened his own general store with a partner in Willits, California that sold all the "real goods" for off-grid living at fair prices.
During the store's first year, Schaeffer bought 100 9-Watt solar panels for $600 each and sold them for $900 each to people interested in getting their electricity from a source other than an electric utility. These sales made Real Goods the first company to sell a solar panel commercially in the United States.
By 1982, Real Goods had opened two additional stores in Ukiah, California and Santa Rosa, California, and published the first edition of the Solar Living Sourcebook (now in its 14th edition), written by Schaeffer as a comprehensive source for sustainable living principles and practices. By 1985, the three Real Goods stores had closed and Schaeffer invested his last $3,000 in a 16-page catalog, successfully reinventing the company as a mail order business operating out of his garage.
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