AN ECO refill shop has celebrated its fourth birthday and successful move and expansion.
Lemon and Jinja hosted an open day on Sunday, March 4 with plant-based street food from The Tinkers Grandaughter and Stones Throw Kitchen adding to the party.
Jess Dugdale, 27, founded the business after years spent travelling and discovering new cultures which inspired her own zero waste movement.
Jinja, pronounced ginger, is a town based along the River Nile in Uganda where the Lemon and Jinja owner went to school as a teenager.
READ MORE: Lemon and Jinja: Romsey refill store re-opens in new location
After three years spent working out of a unit in Basepoint in Abbey Park industrial estate, the eco shop moved to a larger space at Belbin’s Business Park in Cupernham Lane in February.
The team has transformed the unit creating an upstairs café area in addition to the shop floor with refillable items such as dried fruit, herbs, toiletries and household amenities.
Business owner Jess said: "It was incredible to see so many familiar faces come and celebrate our birthday with us. We had customers who had been shopping with us since day one, and customers who had recently stumbled upon us. It was busy the whole day, it was great to welcome everyone in. Everyone was in good spirits and just wanted to hang around and chat with one another. It simply was a great day all around.
"It really is a milestone. We celebrated our first birthday just before lockdown hit and we served our community throughout the whole of Covid. Throughout Covid we were constantly adapting our business model to serve our customers, so, to reach four and have expanded is a real win for us.
"It hasn't been the easiest but our community around our brand has been amazing and they've been so supportive throughout. It's the first birthday we have been able to celebrate with our customers, so to time it with our expansion was perfect. It's great to come from being a one woman team to now working in a team of seven and be working with some of my best friends!
"There are so many new sustainable products and brands to work with, it's great to see sustainability becoming more of a forefront in retail. We want to get more involved in community projects - we already outreach to many community and outreach groups, and we are excited to partner with more local projects. Truly being passionate about our vision, we are always looking for new ideas and involve our customers in our future plans, too. All in all, we will keep growing our brand and our community, and are excited for the future."
Manager Sophie Roe said: “We had a great day celebrating and it was really good to see everyone come together, new faces and old. We have loved growing in the community and thank everyone for their support to us as a small business.”
Lemon and Jinja is open at Unit 11 of Belbin's Business Park Monday to Friday 8am-5pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm. For more information go to lemonandjinja.uk/.
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