HOW COULD THIS BE RETAIL??

i want to make a retail environment that is going to in someway, and hopefully more than one way, improve the community that it exists in. How could this be possible?

I'm NOT talking about "improving the community" by putting in a local fresh food grocery like green-star that's going to "improve" the community because it's helping residents eat healthier food on a lower budget and helping a local business succeed. Yes, i admit that that would be helping the community in some way but that is a very consumer-centered way of helping. It wouldn't be really directly helping the people, it would only be indirectly helping them through their food consumption.

I'm talking about something a little more radical. I want to make a retail environment that somehow going to play a role in localized behavior modification. How can a retail space change the people of the town? and more importantly how could it do this and STILL make money?

I've been toying around a lot with the idea of a non-profit (501-c3) organization that decides to open a retail space to promote and further it's cause. If it got 501-c3 status if would be tax-exempt so the operating costs could be lower. And if it was also some sort of community involvement center we could attract people to the space. And what if somehow there were things that people came to the space to make and then donated them to sell to others.

the first idea that comes to my mind is some sort of community art gallery, where you come to do art, all the supplies are provided for you, but you can't take what you make, instead everything you make is a donation to the center. And then once a week there is an "opening" and a director/curator of the space gets to choose which pieces are hung up, and they are all for sale. even the ones that dont get hung up are all in a big file/folder that you can look through and they would all be for sale a lower cost. The idea would be that all the art is sold at a cost that is lower than normal, so that more people could buy it and as a result young emerging artist could get their work sold and become more recognized.  and maybe if (as i imagine this would happen) the selling of the art couldnt generate enough money to cover operating costs, then local coffee/bakery/delis could own a small part of the space, pay a percentage of the operating costs/rent and that way while you were coming to spend time in this space you coudl also get some coffee or food.

But i feel like that's not enough. there needs to be something else, because i'm thinking about a retail space that's going to REALLY help the community on a larger scale. What else could a place like this have, how else could it improve the community?

i found this..http://www.spatialagency.net/database/mess.hall
This is about as close as i have found yet to something that already exists like what i'm thinking of.
i like the idea of also using the space as exhibition space for a variety of things. anyone in the community can "rent" it out for a certain amount of time to show anything they want, at the discretion of the "owners"

another place i really like is http://www.anothercupdevelopment.org/projects
they are a non-profit centered around the idea of involving the community and fostering education.
but how could you make a place like this also retail?

I think it would be really tough because part of the whole basis of a place like that is that it's NOT-FOR-PROFIT. So it defeats the purpose if you're then selling things there? But what really is "retail"? we said it could be selling a service... so both of those places are selling a service, a service and a place... so does retail HAVE to be for profit?

WHAT ABOUT A RETAIL SPACE THAT DOESNT MAKE ANY MONEY?
IS IT STILL RETAIL IF IT DOESNT CHARGE MONEY FOR THE THINGS IT "SELLS"???

TWO QUESTIONS-
1- what do you think of this idea? what else could a space like this do to truly help the community and spur on positive socio-cultural change? how else could it generate more money as a retail space? Do you think it would even work at all?
2- have you heard of or seen any places at all like this? please let me know if you have.

-gilad