- Our small business has been in business now
for about two and a half years.
In that time, we've allowed our customers
to be part of 55,000 containers
that we've saved from landfill
because we've worked together.
It's really exciting
to be doing something innovative and different,
and also feeling like we're pushing that community around us
to also be more mindful
about their plastics and their waste.
If plastics exist in the world, let's keep using it.
Let's use it a million times.
You come in, pre-weigh it, refill it,
and give it a second life over and over again
because it already exists so you might as well use it.
I'm Rachel Garcia and Dry Goods Refillery is my business.
(gentle upbeat music)
I was really inspired to open Dry Goods Refillery
because as a young mom,
I felt like I could see my trash just getting bigger,
and it felt like everything was being handed to me
in, like, one single-use snack bag and a bottle of formula,
and I knew from traveling and other experiences
that there was a different way to grocery shop.
I knew that hopefully, if I wanted it,
that other people did too.
The ultimate goal was to try and have it be
someplace you could shop and make a full meal,
whether that was produce,
whether that was olive oils, dish soap, hand soap,
that you could really come and just do one full shop.
Shopping at Dry Goods Refillery is so easy.
Refill shops can be really intimidating,
but we try and make it as seamless as possible
so people are encouraged to bring their own container.
We love good reuse and that can be plastic or glass,
it doesn't really matter.
And if you don't, don't worry, we have you covered.
We have paper bags or we sell jars.
We even have a community shelf.
You come in, you pre-weigh your container, you fill up
with either half a cup of beans or an extra scoop of pasta,
and then you check out and only pay for what you take.
You're absolutely welcome to bring plastic to our store.
If plastics exist in the world, let's keep using it.
Let's use it a million times.
When you were young, you're told "reduce, reuse, recycle,"
and we focus so much on that recycle piece,
but the reducing, the reusing,
that's what we need to start focusing on more,
and that's what our store's all about.
(gentle upbeat music)
Opening a store like this is definitely a challenge.
Figuring out how the customer would interact with the space
in not only an efficient way,
but also a way that felt sanitary and safe,
was definitely something that we had to play with
and tweak over time as we grew,
and also just as things around us changed, et cetera.
When we started our business,
we started with a little bit of a smaller concept.
We really wanted to see if what we thought
was gonna be successful actually would work.
It ended up being a really good way to test out the concept,
to feel comfortable,
to get comfortable with some of our systems
and how the customer's gonna interact with the space,
and then once we realized that we had something
that we thought there was demand enough,
we really felt the next step
was to expand into what we are today,
which is a one-stop grocery store.
We worked with our community to fundraise.
We used an Indiegogo campaign.
We raised $20,000.
And it was a really great way,
not only for us to feel supported,
but also to drive up some excitement,
to have the customers in the community
really get on board with the idea,
to know that know that we were coming.
(nuts clattering)
The supply chain we use here at Dry Goods Refillery
is really different.
And so, our main suppliers are carbon neutral certified.
They come to us on electric hybrid vehicles.
They have solar powered factories and warehouses.
And by nature of their commitment to the planet,
they also then work with
smaller, more independent producers.
It really allows us access to some of these smaller farms
in a way that we never would get
in our little corner of the country,
but we feel really good about how we're procuring them.
It extends as well to things like bananas or avocados,
which, let's be honest, are mainstay staples
in a lot of people's diets, but in our store,
they're again, certified
through a carbon neutral supply chain.
The other aspect of our supply chain that's so important
is the local economy.
We always say that local is more sustainable
and it's because it is.
It's because we can get much more creative on a local scale
when we're working with vendors from inside the network
here in New Jersey.
(upbeat music)
Getting people through the door
is always gonna be a hard gig with any business
when you have something that's different
and not necessarily what people are used to.
People are really habit-driven.
They're really stuck in their routines.
It's hard to know sometimes,
what a store like this is gonna be like until you walk in,
so people just get intimidated.
But once we get people through the door,
we can show them that this is not that intimidating,
that it actually can be cheaper
than your typical grocery store,
you're actually just taking what you need,
and also kind of fun.
If you don't live near a refill shop like ours,
and there are more and more every day,
so you should definitely see if there's some near you
because we are growing movement and it feels really exciting
that there's more accessibility to refill shops in general
across the country.
Think about supporting businesses
that are available to ship to you
that aren't necessarily refillable,
but are also plastic-free or eco-businesses.
There's also lots of local other businesses
in your community
who are probably supporting efforts like that too,
and there's definitely a way you can have an impact
whether you live near a refillery like ours or not.
Again, as a small business,
you have a lot of impact in your community,
and if you start to become more mindful
about what you're doing, it trickles out
into the circle that you're creating as well.
And if a small business like us can afford the small changes
to make more sustainable choices,
I promise you that you can do it too.
(upbeat music)