Packaging free shop to open in Jersey

Monday 11 June 2018

Islanders will soon be able to shop with a clear conscience: Mini Mall, a 'minimal waste' shop is due to open its doors at the end of June and will offer bulk whole food, vegetables, as well as cleaning and self care products free from packaging.

Located at the corner of Halkett and Hilgrove streets, Mini Mall will also include a self-serve salad bar, coffee machine, orange juicer and a section of children's clothing.

Setting up the shop has been a labour of love for Sonya Lavery. She moved from Ireland four years ago with her Jersey-born husband and their little girl, who was just a baby at the time. She fell in love with island life but there was one aspect that never failed to exasperate her: her shopping experience.

 "I had to go all over the place, in various stores, to be able to shop as ethically as I like,” she told Express. "Who has got that kind of time? It’s not easy running all over. The packaging was drink me crazy too.”

Pictured: Too much food packaging led Sonya Lavery to set up her own shop. (The Good Jersey Life)

Out of this frustration, Sonya decided to set up her own shop to offer environmentally conscious people somewhere to find everything they need under one roof. Mini Mall will offer wholefood, including pasta, rice and flour, as well as spices, nuts, dried fruits, oils and vinegars; and natural household and self-care products. 

“It will all be without packaging,” she explained. “Everything is in bulk so you have to bring your container and weigh it yourself. It can be a plastic tub but at least you are reusing it. Single-use plastic is the real killer. We will have paper bags for those who need of course.

“Customers will decide how much they want or need. They will be taking ownership of the quantity they buy rather than being dictated by the quantity that is packed.”

Pictured: Sonya with her husband Ben, a Jèrriais teacher, and their four-year-old daughter, Ida.

The shop will also stock a small selection of children’s ethical clothing and gifts. Sonya has also sourced general products to “offer a plastic-free alternative to every day products. Beeswax wraps for example are not easy to get without shopping online but they are a good alternative to cling film or foil.”

Most of the products on stock have been sourced from the UK but Sonya says that she will also include as many local produce as possible, especially organic fruit and veg, unpacked of course.

Sonya will be collaborating with the soon-to-be launched Organic Food Cooperative which looks to sell waste free produce from Vermont Farm in St. Brelade. Both businesses will be supporting each other in various ways such as cooperating when ordering to reduce shipping costs. Sonya will also offer the cooperative's members a discount "We aim for the two shops to work alongside and complement one another with the main common aim to encourage the reduction of our waste on this amazing little island of ours!," Sonya said.

Sonya explained that while the shopping experience she hopes to provide will be as environmentally conscious as possible, hence the “minimal impact living” tag line, she can’t promise a zero-waste shop. “I prefer to use minimal waste. Zero-waste is a bit of a coined phrase but you can never truly be zero-waste. The products in the shop they might come to me in a plastic bag or something else. 

“It is something I want to achieve eventually but for that, all the chain needs to be zero-waste.”

While she has a background in Interior Architecture and Arts, Sonya set up her own online children’s clothing website. She used that experience to set up Mini Mall which took the best part of a year to get to the stage she is at now. She turned to Jersey Business to help draft a business plan which eventually helped secure a business loan which she topped up with her own savings. 

Pictured: The set-up at Mini Mall will be similar to the one at Earth. Food. Love, the UK's first zero waste shop which opened in Totnes (Devon) in May 2017. (Rachel Hoile)

Ultimately, sourcing the products has been the hardest part of the process. “It wasn’t straightforward! There are lots of small businesses offering the products but it’s like a game to find them.

“Sourcing was the fun part, deciding what to stock and coming up with a cross section of every day products we all use. I want people to be able to buy anything they would in a normal shop, but in an ethical and sustainable way.”  

Pictured: Work is still being done inside Mini Mall to get the shop ready for opening at the end of June.

After a year of planning and with only a couple of weeks to go before the opening – it is hoped Mini Mall will see its first customers at the end of the month – Sonya is finding it hard to hide her excitement. “It is a really passionate venture that I want to take on,” she confessed. “I am loving it and I hope a lot of people will appreciate what I am trying to do. I have lot of confidence that now is the right time with all the campaigns that have been happening.

“I hope it will help customers realise they have power. If we make enough noise, we can make changes happen and the unnecessary packaging disappear!"