Whitchurch: Refill Your Boots is a shop with a difference, we call in to find out more.

Shropshire Star

Refill Your Boots in Whitchuch is a shop helping to support those with sustainable living in mind. Aswel as many different foods you can also find lots of lovely gifts and treats too.

Transcript

00:00Here in Whitchurch at Refill Your Boots on the high street and we're with Ona. Introduce yourself.

00:05Hi, I'm Maria McNay from Refill Your Boots.

00:07Well, I love the name, but what's it all about? What is Refill Boots?

00:11So we are an eco-friendly refill shop, hence the name Refill Your Boots.

00:16So we will refill dried goods like rice and pastas, dried fruits, but also washing up liquid and laundry liquid, that kind of thing.

00:26So it's all about trying to save packaging.

00:28And you've got so many different things on the shelf here, from candles, we've got paints, dog treats, nice little gifty bits.

00:38It's quite a varied selection of items you've got, isn't it, really?

00:40Yeah, it's all about making sustainable swaps and having eco-friendly products rather than kind of general plastic or nasty chemical products.

00:50So just trying to make it a bit better for the environment.

00:52So when did you kind of get on this path in life then, this sustainable path? What switched you on to that?

00:57It probably started when I became vegetarian. I started to be a bit more conscious about the environment.

01:03And then we decided we wanted to shop a bit more like this.

01:06And we were struggling to find a shop that was like this where we lived.

01:10And then eventually we moved here and decided we'd set up our own little refill shop.

01:15Cool. So how long have you been based here on the High Street now?

01:17We will be five years later this month.

01:19Oh, wow, that's awesome. What a landmark.

01:22And this lovely display bit next to you, we'll be just having a chat.

01:26It used to be, even the shelving's repurposed. This used to be a bar in a pub.

01:31Fantastic.

01:32Yeah, it's been from a bar and we just painted it up.

01:34And we were lucky that it was already here in the shop when we got it.

01:36Yeah.

01:37So it's a gorgeous feature.

01:39Cool. So five years, you're obviously doing something right.

01:42You know, you're still here. It's kind of working in the town.

01:45So what's the plans going forward? Just more of the same then?

01:48Yeah, we've recently launched our online shop so people can order online and we can send it to wherever they are.

01:55But yeah, just keep changing our products and our offering and hopefully getting more people to come and shop with us.

02:02Cool. So if I was going to get you to pick a nice little gifty product that someone might want to buy for someone, what might that be?

02:09Go on, pick me something nice.

02:11There's too many to choose.

02:12There is too many.

02:12These candles are lovely because they're made from old wine bottles.

02:17Oh, wow.

02:17And the scent is amazing.

02:19Yeah.

02:19So they're really nice.

02:21That's cool. I like that, the old wine bottles.

02:24Water bottle. You can never go wrong with a water bottle.

02:27Cool.

02:27You've always got your water with you and not buying plastic.

02:29Yeah, that's very true actually. Very true.

02:31There was somewhere, I think Telford Shopper said the other day, if you've got a bottle, you can refill it.

02:35Yeah.

02:35Yeah, yeah. So great idea.

02:37We've got to refill points around now so they're perfect.

02:38So I guess five years being here, you get to get to know your customers a little bit, don't you?

02:43We do, yeah. Yeah. We've got a good customer base.

02:46Fridays are always a busy morning because we've got the market as well.

02:49Yeah.

02:49People come to do their fruit and veg and then come shopping here as well.

02:53So yeah, we've got a really nice loyal customer base.

02:56Alright, okay.

02:57Okay.

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