Zero waste store The Replenishery celebrates almost 4 years in Leigh

Inspired by the idea of zero-waste and plastic-free shops in Scandinavia, Olga Salajkova and Ian Morris made the bold move to bring the first-of-its-kind business to Leigh in 2019.

Located on John Street, just a short distance away from Bradshawgate, The Replenishery has been going from strength to strength since its launch almost four years ago - and that is all thanks to its loyal customers.

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Customers can transfer any of the Replenishery products into their own containers (Image: Leigh Journal)

Olga, who is originally from the Czech Republic, said: "It's the community that keeps us going and that's the main focus for us; to help the community save money and save plastic with our products.

"We have built a lot of loyal customers over the years who tell their family and friends about us but have also gained a lot of new customers recently who have only just discovered us.

"It's amazing really because I wasn't sure if we were going to last this long!"

The store sells long-lasting foods such as dried fruit, cereal, nuts and coffee (Image: Leigh Journal)

Selling a variety of long-lasting products such as dried fruit, cereal, pasta, sweets, and coffee, as well as liquids like soaps and shampoos, everything is stocked in glass jars in the John Street shop.

With a focus to decrease the amount of plastic waste in the community, customers transfer the products into their own reusable containers or into glass jars provided at the shop.

Local businesses have also been using the Replenishery to cut down on their plastic waste, with the shop trying to use as much local products as they can.

Olga said she is immensely grateful for all the community's support (Image: The Replenishery)

Olga, who now runs the store with her sister Zuza, added: "We really try our best to reduce plastic waste in the community and to keep everything local, so it's been great to have local businesses approach us and have zero waste swaps between us.

"A lot of our customers have the same mentality as us but we have also seen people changing their mentality along the way and making more of an effort to cut down on their own personal waste."

Olga and her husband Ian (Image: Leigh Journal)

While the Replenishery has built up a core base of regular customers over the years, it has by no means been plain sailing as the team has had to navigate through Brexit-related supply problems, stop-start difficulties of the pandemic, and rising electricity and product bills during the cost of living crisis.

So as the business has been forced to increase prices to keep up with the current financial crisis, this is why the community's support means so much as it allows the business to continue operating.

The Replenishery, on John Street (Image: Leigh Journal)

With common complaints about the state of the town centre, Olga suggested that the council could help drive footfall by offering further incentives and support for small businesses, as well as extended periods of free parking throughout the week.

Council-run car parks are free to use at the weekend and the income raised from daily charges goes towards the running of the facilities as well as environmental initiatives, Wigan Council has said.