REFLECTIONS OF A SHOPKEEPER

REFLECTIONS OF A SHOPKEEPER  Well are we excited for what we hope is going to be an awesome weekend! Bowhouse Market is on today and tomorrow from 10 - 4pm so if fancy a trip out that's an absolute stunning part of Fife to visit.  However, guess what else is kicking off today? #FiverFest We've all been working so hard getting together some incredible deals for you. I'm not going to lie. The past month or so has been challenging. The high street has been really unpredictable with people off visiting or saving up for holidays. It's absolutely fabulous to...

REFLECTIONS OF A SHOPKEEPER  Anyone else feel like this? ✋https://bit.ly/3dcyFaK I debated whether to post this article because I didn't want anyone to feel overwhelmed. But equally I think it's also really important to recognise the reality of our current situation, and what is possible as we progress on our respective journeys to Zero Waste. A conversation this week with a customer about a well known postal laundry pod service reminded me about the amount of greenwashing that big businesses still undertake (and have enormous marketing budgets with which to do so). In real terms there is nothing ethical, sustainable...

REFLECTIONS OF A SHOPKEEPER This is a strange memory to have popped up for me this week. It was the first year that I met Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, in my former role as Marshal of the Flags for the Commonwealth Observance.  It was in this role that I was privileged enough to hear Sonia Ghandi, Dr Dambisa Moyo, Annie Lennox OBE, Dame Jane Goodall and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speak. All Inspirational Women who have given and achieved so much in their specialist fields. All Women who had a profound impact on me.  But it was the words of...

REFLECTIONS OF A SHOPKEEPER In my last Reflections, I noted how it angered me that our society has got to a point where the word 'woke' (which literally means: "alert to injustice in society, especially racism") was being used as a slur. On the week that Derek Chauvin was convicted of the murder of George Floyd, that Daunte Wright (another young, Black man shot by Police in the US during a traffic stop) was laid to rest, and that we remember another young life cut short following an unprovoked and racist attack through Stephen Lawrence Day, it felt like the...

REFLECTIONS OF A SHOPKEEPER  This picture may seem innocuous. A bus ticket from this morning when I dropped the kids off at nursery. But it triggered in me this whole process of thoughts about the kind of choices that I made that morning. The kind of choices I make every day, often without thinking about their impact.  One of the questions that we get asked in the shop a lot is 'what is the most eco friendly or sustainable choice?' The problem with this question and the reason most people find the journey to zero waste so difficult is because...