Greenkeepers Eco Home Store in Consett and its unique products

Vicky Parker has run Greenkeepers Eco Home Store on Newmarket Street in Consett for the past five-and-a-half-years.

The business owner said after reducing her own plastic waste, she wanted to try and help the community do the same.

The store sells everything from household cleaning items and personal care products such as shampoos and shower gels to pantry and dry foods such as herbs and spices. It also sells various loose coffee beans and oils.

The shop limits packaging by offering refillable stations for some of its products, including bathroom cleaner and floor cleaner.

Owner Vicky said: “The reason I wanted to do it specifically in Consett is because it is on my doorstep. I knew there was a demand out there for it, so it just made sense.

Vicky opened the store as she wanted to help the community reduce its waste (Image: STUART BOULTON)

“A lot of our customers are older customers as well, and for them, it is almost a way of how they used to shop, but also it is a way that they can budget a little bit as well.

“You do not have to buy packets of everything; you could just buy what you need when you need it.”

Vicky, who has been a dental hygienist for 18 years, runs the shop with two other workers.

She said she already had the idea to start the business, but then the Covid lockdown helped speed the process up.

“We had the premises two weeks after I had decided I was going to go ahead with it and we opened about three weeks after that, so just over a month altogether from start to finish,” she said.

The store sells a lot of products that people will not be able to buy in supermarkets (Image: STUART BOULTON)

She spoke of the importance of offering alternative products that people cannot buy in supermarkets.

“We sell our local unpasteurized honey; they cannot sell that in the supermarket,” she said.

“All our products are loose, so for example the coffee beans, you come in and you select your coffee beans. We then price them instore.

“Most of what we have are plastic-free things you cannot get easily in the supermarket.

“A perfect example of that is flour. Somebody asked if we stock flour and I don’t because it is something that is already easily available, plastic-free in the supermarket.”

Vicky said it is important to give people plastic-free options and choices when they are shopping.

She added: “That is something the supermarket can’t do. The supermarkets are getting better; they are starting to introduce more things with less plastic.

“I would like to think that ten years down the line, a store like us would almost not be necessary because the supermarkets are doing a better job.

“But at the minute I feel like we need to make it as easy for people as possible to try and do a little bit better.”

By stocking items that supermarkets don’t sell, not only does Vicky offer shoppers alternatives, she also helps promote other independent businesses.

Vicky said: “Anything I sell in store I buy in. It means those independent producers have got a regular, steady income from the things we stock.

The store also supports other independent businesses by stocking products not available in supermarkets (Image: STUART BOULTON)

“A lot of our small independents that we stock, they had no other way of getting their products out there because the markets had all dried up.

“We have a lot of locally produced items such as beauty products, homemade chocolates, local tea and coffee; we have quite a range now.

“It is amazing how many people will come in, and it might be one of the producers from one product and they might say ‘We don’t do this range, but have you heard of this other company that work down the road, they might be able to help’.

“It is a really open and supportive network.”

And the store has ended up becoming a bit of a community hub, as well as a way for people to reduce plastic-waste and improve their carbon footprint.

Vicky explained: “We get new customers all the time because we are not in the very centre of the town, we’re just on the outskirts.

The store has also become a community hub, with people regularly coming into chat about their day (Image: STUART BOULTON)

“We still have our regular customers, but I think for a lot of people, we have almost become more than a shop. Because of the way of shopping is, it takes a bit more time.

“A lot of people come in to have a chat and tell you about their day, so it became more personal.

“It is easier to go to the supermarket, but I think that is why we have managed to stay open where others have not. The customers are buying from us and they are able to get to know us, where they cannot do that in supermarkets.”