Inspiring Conversations with Anna Crooks of Earthly Refillery

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Crooks

Hi Anna, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my eco friendly journey when I was a teenager. I was very curious about finding “cleaner” products. Unfortunately at the time i was falling into a lot of “greenwashing” items. It wasn’t until i was an adult where I did better research. I was a photographer until age 27 when I decided to make a huge career change and started my business! I dreamed of starting a zero waste bulk shop for many years but didn’t think I could do it. I basically woke up one day and said no i can do that. I was financially in a position where I could take this big leap! I was planning on taking it very slow by starting off just doing small local markets. But someone I knew told me about the location of the first store front and I said why not! I really wanted to do something like this for my community, as some other similar shops had closed down.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There has defiantly been some obstacles! One that first comes to my mind is about what products to get. When I first bought all the inventory, I was just guessing what people would want. I quickly learned that there are certain products that even though I think they were awesome, most people didn’t care for them. The way I fixed that was having a list on our checkout courter where people can write down what they want to see in the store. Then people will do tally marks next to them so we can really see how many people want the product. Sometimes we will have someone come into the store and beg us to get a certain product, then i get that product and never see that person again. I only want to get items that I know a lot of people want.

Another challenge is the obvious for any small business, the money. Everything is so expensive. The rent, the inventory, payroll, etc. A lot of the vendors we get product from have extremely high minimum order pricing. So sometimes we will be out of a product but we can’t order more until we can buy enough to meet that minimum. For example, their minimum could be $800 but the product we are out of only costs $100 so we have to wait on ordering.

We just got a 3 door fridge so we can sell fresh produce! I would have got it a year ago but they cost an arm and a leg. I finally found a used one from a store down the road that was in our budget!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Earthly Refillery?
We are a zero waste bulk shop. We have everything from shampoo, laundry detergent, multipurpose cleaner, to grains, seasonings, flours and so much more! We have over 150 bulk food items and over 100 personal home items. All the bulk stuff is prices by the ounce. So you can get as little or as much as you want. Want to try out a new shampoo but don’t want to commit to an entire bottle? This is the perfect place for that!

All of our products are clean and eco friendly. We do have a large selection of other eco friendly alternatives that are not bulk like dish brushes, reusable silicone bags, candles, razors, hair brushes and more!

We even have a small bulk section for pets including treats, spray deodorizer, plastic free dog waste bags and shampoo! We are currently on the hunt for more products for our furry friends!

Everyone is welcome to bring their own containers or we sell some glassware or we do have a nice free section of donated containers that have been sanitized!

A lot of our products are either sourced from grand rapids or Michigan!

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I think as a business, the most important thing i have learned is I can’t make everyone happy. We try to accommodate to everyone who walks through our doors but that is not always realistic.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.earthlyrefillery.com
• Instagram: earthlyrefillery