FAMILY RUN ECO-FRIENDLY BATH BUSINESS EXPANDS INTO THE WIDER COTSWOLDS

Introducing Refillable.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER Stamena and Leny Dimitrova have taken a leap of faith and are opening their second South West eco store in the Cotswolds town of Tetbury – four years after opening their flagship Bath outlet.

The pair first opened the doors to their sustainable grocery cafe and deli vision in Cleveland Place at the height of the pandemic with just 134 products, fulfilling a dream of offering an alternative shopping experience for customers who wanted to embrace sustainability in their daily lives.

Four years on the team now offer over 1,500 single-use plastic-free, locally sourced (where possible) sustainable items. Now they’ve decided to expand their business to Tetbury and will be opening their second store at 21 Market Place at the end of this month.

Stamena said: “The unwavering support and enthusiasm of our community in Bath has been our greatest source of strength. We are continuously inspired by the passion for sustainability that our customers - both new and returning - bring through our doors.

“Their loyalty and encouragement have fuelled our growth, keeping us excited and hopeful for the future. We did some research and felt that it was time to commit to a new Refillable and we are looking forward to what the next four years of plastic-negative shopping will bring in both the city of Bath and this beautiful South Cotswold market town.”

The pair have always dreamed of expanding their brand and it was a fact-finding trip in August which led to them making the decision that Tetbury would be the site of their second shop and bistro.

Leny said: “We intend to open numerous Refillable Shops in the South West over time. We’ve always loved Tetbury and we came across a unit that was becoming available some months ago.

“We are attracted by the independent trade scene, the beauty of the Cotswolds and the strong desire of people living in the area to preserve and protect their environment. We want to build links with local producers too as, where possible, we source products from the community.”

Stamena is a globe-trotter who was born in Bulgaria and then spent many years in South Africa and quickly realized that entrepreneurship was her forte. She set up and ran several businesses and then came to the UK in 2016 and a year later her daughter followed to study.

Leny has taken after her mother in also being an entrepreneur from an early age. She doesn’t just ‘talk the talk’ about sustainability she walks the walk too. She is experienced in pickling and fermenting foods and she loves cooking.

Leny said: “I launched my first business when I was 15 which was a dog and pet-sitting business serving clients across Johannesburg where I lived. I expanded this business until, at the age of 22, I moved to Bristol at complete a BSC at the University of Bristol.

“Alongside my studies, I worked in the hospitality sector and realised I was learning, quite organically, much about consumer behaviour. As I’m also very passionate about healthy eating and living sustainably.

“Since being in the UK, increasingly my mum and I felt almost physically ill with every trip to the main supermarkets when we saw the mountain of non-recyclable plastic in our shopping carts.

“In Johannesburg we mainly bought naked foods, fresh produce, refilled pantry foods, deli, fishmonger etc. We brought home very little plastic and we realised we could offer the same here.”

The idea became a reality when the grocery store in their town of Bradford On Avon was closing down because the owner was retiring. They thought they could take on the premises as a grocery story with a ‘refilling’ element.

“The refilling concept we knew however we quickly realised this unit was too small for our needs, so we found our Bath shop which was absolutely dilapidated when we took it on and we managed to turn it into a beautiful space,” Stamena explained.

Refillable Tetbury will initially be a grocery store offering sustainable and, where possible, local products and there will be no single use plastics in sight. By the spring of 2025 a bistro will open upstairs allowing shoppers to eat, drink and browse.