Earth-friendly Yolo paints at Bettencourt.   (Photo: Levi Brown)

• Bettencourt

  70 N. 6th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-218-6737

  When Bart Bettencourt and his brother-in-law Matt Berk set out to produce a line of eco-friendly furniture in 2004, they couldn’t find what they needed at local lumber yards—so they opened their own. While other vendors in the city have started to stock the odd bamboo plank or chemical-free plaster, Bettencourt has become the green answer to Home Depot, selling construction materials like coconut palm flooring, recycled-paper countertops, and natural-fiber insulation. The service is knowledgeable rather than preachy, and glowing word-of-mouth has generated so much walk-in traffic that the warehouse is now being turned into a sleek showroom.

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine