This time 8 years ago, I was loading my 2-door Corsa with upcycled ice cream tubs full of organic oats, pasta, rice, nuts and fruit — products I’d chosen with the help of the local community.
I’d volunteered to start a food refill pop-up at The Mix in Wantage, after a few of us in the community decided we wanted a way to shop with less packaging waste, to help reduce the amount of plastic polluting our environment. I created a Facebook event, published the price list (pictured below) and hoped some people would come.
Finding the products
Getting stock was tricky as I wasn’t established enough to buy the huge bulk quantities needed for refill. Thankfully I got help from Paul and Rina from SESI, who were running their own refill pop-up in East Oxford at the time, just as they were rolling out their own brand of refill detergents across the UK. Their willingness to share knowledge and stock with someone just starting out made a real difference to whether that first pop-up was even possible.
To store all the food I found some big 5L ice cream tubs, destined for landfill, at the farm shop I was working at. Food safe and compact enough to fit in my little car, they were perfect. I took them to the SESI store room and decanted enough of each product to serve a handful of people at my first pop-up. In fact we still use these same tubs in our shop store room today!
On the day of the pop-up I also had assistance from Helen, a founding member of Faringdon Unwrapped, a refill group that was just starting in Faringdon. She asked to help out as they were setting up something similar in Faringdon and wanted to learn the refill ropes with me. I was so glad she did as we soon had queues out the door!
The day itself
Amongst the queue were family and friends who came to show their support, and enthusiastic members of the community who were so pleased a plastic-free shopping option was available and keen to know if we could pop up nearer them. Looking back, that question — could we come to them — was probably the first real sign that this could be something bigger than a one-off event. Some of the faces from our first pop-up still visit us in store today and one in particular, Lucy, we see a lot because she is now a member of our team.
Loading the car with empty tubs at the end of the day, I was tired but so blown away with how well received our first proper event was, and hopeful that we’d be able to do more.
Looking back
Little did I know what journey I was about to undertake, and that 8 years later I’d be sat writing this post from our very own refill shop. I’m actually feeling pretty emotional writing this. Running a small business leaves little time for pause, but this milestone has given me a welcome opportunity to sit back and truly give space to how far we’ve come.
From a car boot at The Mix in Wantage to a shop of our own in Faringdon, with home delivery across Oxford and the Vale of White Horse, a regular stall at Wolvercote Community Market, and a community of customers, suppliers and friends who’ve been part of building this along the way — it’s a lot to take in.
This month, I’ll be taking the opportunity to do a bit more of that reflecting, so stay tuned for more posts over on our socials celebrating 8 years of this journey and building our Tribe.