Hidden Gems: Meet Sarah Lange of The Refillery Traverse City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Lange.

Sarah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve always been ingredient conscious when it comes to products that I use in my home and on my body. I was having a hard time finding products locally that offered the ingredients I felt safe using and packaged minimally or not in plastic, so I found myself having to order them online. Aside from not bring able to purchase directly from a brick and mortar it was also difficult to gauge when I’d run out of my shampoo or need more cleaning products. I came across a refill shop on social media in early 2020 and fell in love with the concept immediately. I knew that I would love having access to this option and figured I couldn’t be alone in that thought. After countless hours of research, I decided to go for it and launched The Refillery TC in late February of 2021 as an online shop with “milk-man style” delivery. I was really blown away how well received it was within our community. In April 2021 my husband and I were eating brunch at Red Spire at The Grand Traverse Commons and we noticed there was an available space in The Mercato and thought it would be a great opportunity. By Memorial Weekend I was opening The Refillery TC as a brick & mortar location and I continue to be amazed by the support we receive from locals and visitors alike. After a few years of slowly growing and filling our shop with refillable products as well as plastic alternatives, we were running out of space! I opened a second location in April 2024 in Warehouse MRKT that allows us to order our best-selling bulk products in larger quantities and continue to expand our consciously curated selection of goods.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s overall been smooth, I have a really great team and support system but there are always bumps along the way. I’ve had to really be mindful about my work/life balance as I am also a mom to two young boys. After opening the second shop it was a big wakeup call that I couldn’t do everything myself and that I really needed to delegate responsibilities. I also thought that because I was an established business that I wouldn’t need to do much advertising, that I would open, and the people would come. Even though our two shops are only 1.5 miles away from each other the foot traffic and customer is quite different. Now that we have a year under our belt at the new location, we are starting to be able to tweak each shop to better serve our customers and attract new ones. Aside from the ebbs and flows within the shops, there are always the obstacles that are out of our control. Since I launched, we’ve dealt with supply issues, raw material price increases and now uncertainty with additional potential price increases if materials are coming from outside of the US. I’ve learned to take on each day with an open mind.

We’ve been impressed with The Refillery Traverse City, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a retail shop offering low-waste everyday goods and refillable personal care and household cleaning products. We focus on products with ingredients that are people and planet friendly and sustainably made. For our bulk products we do our best to work with companies that are closed-loop meaning that they also take back their packaging to be sanitized and refilled again. When ordering large quantities we also try to source from Michigan businesses or as nearby as possible to minimize our carbon footprint. We do our best to do the research so that folks can purchase toxic free products that work!

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I constantly use Environmental Working Groups ingredient checker to research what makes up the products we carry to ensure that they are safe for people as well as our waterways and environment. I have to be mindful about what podcasts/blogs I consume when it comes to the environment because it’s really easy to get pretty doom and gloom with the state of the world right now. However, I like to keep up on The Good News section of The Daily Climate. On a personal level I also enjoy listening to guided meditation to stay grounded and I’ve found some really stellar people to follow on Substack.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://refillerytc.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/refillerytc
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/RefilleryTC