Filling Good? Yes we are!
Have you heard of a zero-waste shop? This inspiring not for profit and zero waste shop of Maidenhead, is owned by the local community and mostly run by volunteers.
Filling Good was founded early in 2019 by Nelly Semaille, previously a finance manager who moved to Maidenhead the same year with her family.
Filling Good started out as a pop-up store inside the Craft Coop at the Nicholson Shopping Centre. Opening just two days a week with a limited range of products, it proved to be a good way of meeting hundreds of local people. Nelly connected with several customers who were very keen on taking a more active role in the shop as it grew.
Market research in Maidenhead and other local towns, combined with customer feedback, showed that there was a market for a Zero Waste Shop. It was clear that more and more customers wanted to switch all the products on their shopping lists to local, eco-friendly, and ethical items. The Zero Waste movement is taking off nationally and Filling Good has arrived in Maidenhead at just the right moment to help people reduce their waste and buy ethically.
All the volunteers bringing Filling Good to life are definitely high street heroes - here are their answers to our top five questions about their pandemic experience.
Here is what the brilliant community-led FillingGood zero waste shop had to say. We hope you find this series - and the whole Filling Good team - as informative and inspirational as we do!
1. What did you do in response to the lockdown and pandemic challenges?
At first it has been very difficult to find premises with the lockdown - then as we opened, the biggest difficulty was to set up a range of hygiene rules which we did very successfully. For example, we are asking every shop customer to sanitize their hands before they enter the shop, making it one of the safest places to shop concerning the COVID situation.
2.What were your greatest challenges? (Technology, engagement, supply chain, etc.)
Supply chain has really struggled - during the first months of the lockdown, some suppliers had to stop their deliveries as they couldn't get enough products. Making sure we respect the guidelines has also limited the actions we could do (no tasting, not too many people in the shop, …)
3. If you could do it over again, would you do anything differently? What would you do?
We would have started even earlier with a pop up shop in the Nicholson’s center!
4. What did you learn about your customers, your community, your business, yourself?
Being a volunteer lead shop, we were amazed by the community response to Filling Good. As we are an essential shop, people could still volunteer, and numerous people did so, in order to bring FIlling good to life. Some other volunteers who couldn't participate in the shop itself as they had to shield proposed help in the background - the members’ support of our project have truly been amazing.
5. If you could give words of advice or encouragement to others, what would you say?
Sustainability is definitely the way to go forward, and as people truly want to make a difference, an unique offer in this field is highly welcome by the customers. It takes a lot of work but the results and the response of the local residents is the best reward you can get!
Are you a High Street Hero, or do you know of one? Do you want us to write about your shop? Return this completed form to: ourroyalborough@gmail.com and we will write a blog about you!
What an inspiration Filling Good is! Did you know that there are so many ways small businesses can be eco-friendly? Small Business Britain is offering free resources and training sessions right now for all businesses that can help all businesses get to NetZero. If you’re interested in learning more, visit their website.
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www.fillinggood.co.uk