A Tri-Lakes area native has returned with a plan to offer a new retail store in Downtown Monument.

Savanna Schweizer, 29, opened Bamboo Switch in April after moving back to the area in November. Bamboo Switch is a new retail store in the Front Street Square in Downtown Monument which offers a variety of items made from mostly bamboo or other all-natural fibers and materials.

The Bamboo Switch brand is owned by a husband and wife who started the company in 2018 in Minnesota.

Originally from Palmer Lake, Schweizer and her husband moved to Minnesota in 2019 following a job opportunity shortly after they were married. She ended up working in the Minnesota-based Bamboo Switch store with the owners, where she learned about the mission and philosophy of the brand.

Schweizer and husband planned to eventually return to the Tri-Lakes area, and once she shared this with her employers, the Bamboo Switch owners asked if she would be interested in opening their second location in Colorado.

“I really had come to love the products,” Schweizer said. “I already believed in the mission of it and thought that it would be a really cool way to give back to the community that I cared about and grew up in.”

She and her husband moved back to Tri-Lakes, where both still have immediate family, and began making plans to open the new Bamboo Switch location. They had seen the growth of the area over the last 10-20 years and went to work interviewing other downtown business owners, previous contacts, family and friends about the growth and changes to determine if there would be interest in a store like Bamboo Switch.

Driving through town, Schweizer soon spotted a sign in the location’s Front Street Square window, noting the site was available. The owner of the second Bamboo Switch had found a location to feature the benefits of bamboo and all-natural fiber products, which was inspired by an effort to get away from the plastic pollution problem as well as rising health concerns from microplastics, she said.

“Bamboo is a really versatile material,” Schweizer said. “It’s very sustainable. It grows up to three feet a day. It’s very fast growing. It doesn’t require chemicals or pesticides in the growing or harvesting process. It’s a very clean material in that way.”

In addition, bamboo releases more oxygen than trees and captures carbon dioxide, she said.

“It just made a lot of sense to use,” Schweizer said. “It’s really catching on. You’ll see a lot of things are being made out of bamboo these days.”

The new downtown retailer hopes the community will understand its mission and like the products in the store, finding them fun and unique, she said. Schweizer is also excited to learn more about what clients are looking for and would like to see in the store.

Bamboo Switch is starting to host special events, like a recent “clothing swap,” which Schweizer said is a fun way for people to engage with each other and the store.

With a degree from University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in anthropology, with a concentration on biological and ecological, Schweizer feels the store gives her the opportunity to have exposure to one angle of her prior studies.

“I loved learning about how people relate to their environment and how our environment affects us,” she said. “I feel like I get to explore that a little bit even doing this.”

While a soft opening is in the store’s past, Schweizer and the new Bamboo Switch location are planning to have a Grand Opening this July. She said following the store on social media would be the best way to get details of the event as they are made.

For now, Bamboo Switch in Downtown Monument aspires to be a guide into a world of products made from sustainable items.

“We understand how overwhelming it can feel to try and embrace a more sustainable lifestyle,” she said. “It’s important to not make anyone feel intimidated or ashamed.

“Plastic is pretty much unavoidable in this life. This is why we try to carry products which are affordable and make sustainable alternatives simple and attainable.”