United by Blue, the eco-friendly retailer and cafe, has closed its Philadelphia stores

United by Blue, the eco-friendly outdoor-lifestyle company that mixed retail sales and a café with a mission to clean up the world’s oceans and waterways, has closed its last two stores, both in Philadelphia.

The brand, launched in Philadelphia in 2010, will maintain its e-commerce presence as well as its wholesale sales to outlets such as REI, said co-founder Brian Linton, who with partner Mike Cangi sold the company last year to Naadam, a luxury clothing brand based in New York. Linton had been advising Naadam but said he had no role in the closing.

Closed signs appeared Wednesday at the locations at 3421 Walnut St. in University City and 205 Race St. in Old City as about 25 employees learned of the shutdown. Stores in Chicago and Scottsdale, Ariz., closed last year.

Linton and Cangi founded United by Blue with a small line of T-shirts focused on ocean conservation and sold at wholesale. They promised to clean a pound of trash from oceans and waterways for every product sold, through company-organized cleanups.

They adapted the café-retail model because they did not think that an ordinary apparel store would engage with the community.

Cangi and Linton’s first retail store opened in 2013 on the ground floor of their Old City office building. They opened the store on Penn’s campus before moving the Old City location to the Bridge nearby in 2017.

United by Blue stores were novel. One could buy a kayak and a breakfast sandwich, wool gloves and a pulled bison sandwich on potato roll, or perhaps a quilted vest with a mug of ReAnimator coffee and a plate of griddle cakes with house-made sausage.

A representative of Naadam declined to comment.