Sustainable department store The Good Store opens in Mayfair

The Good Store, a brand-new 6,000 square-foot department store in London’s Mayfair, has opened at 23-25 and 27 South Molton Street.

The shop carries a variety of eco-friendly brands and items in the areas of apparel, accessories, health and beauty, furniture, home goods, technology, and books.

Groundwork London, one of a network of organizations in the UK that mobilizes community-based practical action to address poverty and the environment, developed the idea in collaboration with Grosvenor, the owner of the property at South Molton Street.

With a focus on reuse and renovation, The Good Store “radically rethinks the department store.” A variety of plastic-free and sustainably sourced goods are available, and the location will also conduct educational programs and services to help customers make eco-aware decisions.

Along with upcycled and sustainable clothing brands like Elvis and Kresse, which makes sustainable bags and accessories out of reclaimed materials like an old fire-brigade hose, Been London, which uses sustainable leather, and Wyatt & Jack, which makes items from broken bouncy castles, the well-known vintage, and second-hand clothing charity Traid has a section in-store.

Along with Waterhaul, a company that manufactures sunglasses from plastic collected from Cornwall’s shoreline, the store also has refillable cosmetic items from UpCircle that are manufactured from spent coffee grounds.

In the furniture section of the shop, Jay&Co, the restoration furniture company run by Jay Blades, the BBC’s “Repair Shop” TV host, is located next to ThinkFound, a social organization that sources hardwood that has fallen or felled in London.

The Good Store offers access to premium restored white goods from Groundwork’s Rework employment program, high-end refurbished bicycles by Westminster Wheels, and furniture from Groundwork’s own workshops, The Loops.

Fiona Brenner, Strategic Development Manager at Groundwork London, said that they could see that individuals have a great desire for more sustainable solutions, but the onus falls with the person to go out and locate them. In order to provide a simple and delightful purchasing experience, they wanted to combine these options to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the growing sustainable industry and conventional views toward reuse and repair. All profits will go toward their social reuse programs, out of which The Good Store was developed, so that garbage may be revived and supplies can be given to people in need.

Joanna Lea, Retail Director at Grosvenor, said that The Good Store is an innovative retail concept that offers a path to market for high-quality sustainable items, enhances London’s circular economy, and supports social entrepreneurs, according to Joanna Lea, Retail Director at Grosvenor. They are happy to be collaborating with Groundwork to provide this much-needed and relevant retail offering to the Mayfair community. It is crucial that they support social companies like these, which highlight sustainable goods and are making a difference for larger social and environmental aims. The Good Store is a crucial component of retail’s future.