Hastings firm expands to open second shop

A Hastings retailer with 35 years of experience in the town has opened a new shop.
Trinity Refills in Cambridge Road, HastingsTrinity Refills in Cambridge Road, Hastings
Trinity Refills in Cambridge Road, Hastings

Trinity Wholefoods, a worker’s co-operative set up by a group of people with ‘a common passion for ethical trading and whole organic foods’, has operated its store in Trinity Street since 1984.

Now it has opened its second store – Trinity Refills – two minutes away in 41a Cambridge Road.

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The mission, according to one of its members Nikki Gedney, is to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle, refill, rethink’.

She said: “We want to be able to encourage people to reduce the amount of single use plastic they are buying or disposing of and to support those who are equally concerned about the environmental impact of plastic.”

Nikki said the initial philosophies of Trinity Wholefoods was to offer people good, wholesome, unprocessed foods at reasonable prices.

They also aimed to sell products produced with minimum intervention, impact on the environment or exploitation of producers.

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Nikki added: “These principles are carried over into our exciting new project Trinity Refills.

“We have offered a refill service on eco laundry products for many years at Trinity so when this shop came up it seemed an ideal opportunity to expand on this. A chance to give customers the opportunity to buy affordable, eco-friendly and organic cruelty-free goods without plastic packaging.

“The new shop will evolve as we go on and hopefully we can add more products based on what our customers are asking for now that we are finally open.

“It took a little while to get there but we hope that our customers enjoy the ‘different’ shopping experience over there knowing they are trying to make a difference to our environment.”

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Trinity Wholefoods, which now has nine members running the business as well as two probationary members and a Saturday employee, said it is ‘building on the ethical foundations laid down by the founding members.

Nikki added: “We want to be able to encourage people to reduce the amount of single use plastic they are buying or disposing of and to support those who are equally concerned about the environmental impact of plastic.

“A chance for shoppers to be able to reuse what existing containers, jars, bags, empty shampoo bottles that they already have at home.

“To refill with the product they want and to try and ‘rethink’ how we all shop.

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“At Trinity Refills shoppers will be able to refill from a varied selection of natural eco-friendly household cleaning products as well as natural body care and skin care too. All of which are also cruelty free.

“On the food side of things there is a wide range of organic store cupboard essentials like muesli, rice, pasta, nuts, dried fruits, lentils and seeds.

“We also have muesli, oats and pasta that are free from gluten too. All the products in the shop that are allergens – nuts and products that have gluten in – are all contained in sealed scoop bins so as to avoid any cross contamination which we consider to be extremely important.

“In addition to the above we also stock a selection of organic herbs and spices plus teas from the local Proper Tea Company and coffee from Brighton based Red Roaster Coffee Co which we can also sell ground thanks to our coffee grinder.

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“What’s really great and a priority for us still is that people should be able to not only waste less but also save money as they can buy in smaller amounts and there is no packaging cost included.

“Our customers here at Trinity Wholefoods and new visitors alike have shown great enthusiasm and support for our new Trinity Refills shop and couldn’t wait for us to open. We are so pleased to hear their positive comments.”

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