Saving the planet one gift hamper at a time
Hear from our incredible businesses, like MindFill. Here, this sustainable, family-owned business shares what makes MindFill such a success. We are inspired! Share your high street hero story with us and be featured, too.
MindFill is a sustainable gift hamper company that inspires positive wellness whilst being kind to the environment.
Lockdown was the catalyst of change for us as a family. We welcomed our son during lockdown last April, and with time to think whilst being on maternity leave, we decided to pursue our dreams and launch MindFill, which had been in planning mode for some years.
And it was the perfect time to do so. With changes in shopping behaviour from support small and local and a shift to online shopping, MindFill was a perfect fit.
Our business supports over 40 UK-based artisans and small brands. By building small and local into our sustainability ethos, we reduce our carbon footprint, offer unique finds often made with fabrics headed to landfill, and curate gift hampers that literally don’t cost us the earth.
As part of our collections, our self-care hampers for men, women and teenagers have been amongst our bestsellers during the pandemic - we are inspired to help others and focus on our well being. Our men’s “headspace box” and kids’ “positivity box” have received positive feedback from our customers, many telling us that they’ve helped them get through the strains of lockdown.
We asked our high street heroes to answer a few questions and to provide words of advice to other businesses - here’s what they had to say:
1 What were your greatest challenges? (Technology, engagement, supply chain, etc.)
Our greatest challenge as with all small businesses was making the leap to just go for it. After years of procrastinations and what if’s, 2020 was the year we took a leap of faith and haven’t looked back since.
We knew our range would be well received, especially during lockdown as our core values are to inspire positive wellness, which was something, globally, many of us struggled with.
During lockdown we took the opportunity to develop our skill sets with front end web development and coding so we could build our own website too!
2 If you could do it over again, would you do anything differently? What would you do?
We are still a young company and grow every day with tweaks and changes. We have a fantastic base of suppliers who have worked with us to get us off the ground as they believe in our company and support our sustainability ethos.
3 What did you learn about your customers, your community, your business, yourself?
Our customers are wonderful! We found that by staying true to our values and sustainability ethos, our customers have confidence in our offering. They don’t need to check if a product or packaging contains single use plastics as we do not stock any item that does. As a new business, it is easy to second think every decision made and that’s why it's critical to ensure you know who you are, what your business represents, and what you want to achieve.
We learnt that our customers are not on Facebook but mostly on Instagram, so I adjusted my skill set. We learnt we actually have a huge community of supporters here in the Royal Borough who equally strive to make small changes to live more sustainably. I am part of an amazing small business support network in Maidenhead full of wonderful people ready to help and support small businesses.
4 If you could give words of advice or encouragement to others, what would you say?
Our advice to others thinking about starting a business is: if you have a solid business plan and the resources to start a business, do it. So often we worry too much about the ‘what if’s’. It could be the best thing you have ever done!
What an inspiration this sustainable business 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.
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!
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