HACKENSACK, N.J. — Green shoots of retailing are taking root in North Jersey downtowns in the form of stores that offer merchandise that promises to be more earth-friendly, through the use of recycled, reused, organic and sustainable materials.

Tenafly merchants Genie Finetto and Christine Giler opened their gift and household products store bgranola in April and stocked it with merchandise they describe as "eco-chic."

Sandy Russo opened her Vivi children's clothing store in Ho-Ho-Kus in August and has drawn shoppers eager to buy clothes made without artificial fibers, or chemicals, and made out of renewable resources.

"It's a way of connecting mainstream consumers with thinking about the planet," Jennifer Chaky said, who opened her earth-friendly store housewares and gift store, Go Lightly, in Montclair in June 2008.

More mass retailers are jumping on the green bandwagon as well, by selling more green products and trying to limit the environmental impact of their stores. The National Retail Federation's Sustainable Retailing Consortium has about 200 members, and the federation is holding two Web-based seminars for its members on green retailing this month.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association opened its second annual Sustainability Conference Monday with tours of a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. energy-efficient super center and a J.C. Penney store that received "green" certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

This follows the announcement in July from Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke that the world's largest retailer plans to create a sustainability index for every product it sells, with tags showing a product's carbon footprint.

Dan Butler , vice president-retail operations for the NRF, said retailers increasingly are looking to make their stores greener and stock them with green products.

Studies have shown, Butler said, that "if the customer is looking at two products that are similar in quality, similar in features, and one's green and one's not, they're going to opt for the green one."

"In surveys, the consumers are saying they are willing to pay more for green merchandise," Butler said. "That's not always the case in their actual spending, but when all things are equal, it can be the swing factor."

Although green is a growing trend, Butler said, being green doesn't guarantee success, especially for small stores. "You really have to look at 'Is the product fulfilling the customer's need,' and 'Is it a quality product at the right price?'" he said. "All the things you normally have to do to succeed with a product you still have to do."

The owners of green stores say their own desire to live green and use green products led them to open green stores, rather than market research showing a green trend.

"We both had children that were born within the last year," said Genie Finetto of bgranola, who opened the store with her cousin, Christine Giler . "We wanted to be green with our own children, and we saw the need for a store like this.''

The cousins used to operate the Petite Paperie stationery store in Tenafly. They sold it three years ago and were taking a break from retailing until they decided to open a green store. Many of their best-sellers are products favored by green moms and kids, such as stainless steel water bottles, and reusable lunch boxes and sandwich bags.

"Parents are becoming a lot more aware of what their kids are eating from and drinking from," Giler said.

Sandy Russo , 26, of Saddle River, opened her Vivi children's store this August after seeing how difficult it was to find all-natural, organic, chemical-free clothing for her niece, who was born prematurely. She originally planned to sell only clothes for infants, but found there was demand for chemical-free clothing for older children as well.

"I always look for organic clothing and 100 percent cotton," said Susan Esserman of Saddle River, a recent visitor to Vivi, who bought clothes for her 3-year-old daughter. "I used to have to order it online, and it's great to be able to come into the store and touch it and see it."

Bgranola and Vivi both opened in the midst of the worst retail recession in 30 years. However, the stores say they have been performing better than expected.

Mark Caserta , who opened 3 R Living in Park Slope in Brooklyn in 2004 and has a second store in Maplewood, N.J., said the recession has affected his sales. "The Maplewood store is only 2 years old, so that is still on a growth track, but we see it (a recession-driven sales drop-off) in Brooklyn," he said.

Chaky, owner of Go Lightly in Montclair, has a different take on the recession than many retailers. If people are consuming less, and being less wasteful, that's good for the planet, even if it isn't that good for retail, she said. "When things come back (economically) they have to come back sustainably," she said. "We can't go back to business as usual. I feel confident that I'm in the right place."

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