Comments on: On the Loose

By: Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:26:33 +0000

I love this concept and hope it translates well to the states.

By: dana Nichols

dana Nichols — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:48:03 +0000

My dream is a large retailer with this philosophy.

By: Green 11

Green 11 — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:03:50 +0000

San Francisco shop focuses on selling personal care by weight. Customers bring in their own container. Cleaning products such as kitchen, bath and glass cleaners are sold in concentrate with consumers buying just a few ounces and diluting with water at home! http://shopgreen11.com

By: Martin Hardwidge

Martin Hardwidge — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:46:55 +0000

I think the store is great, and Caroline took an interest in a piece I wrote on my blog packaging-radar.com. As an idea for a great independent store and supplier of quality produce, brilliant. It's the 'war on packaging' bit I can't stomach. I don't know how many people Caroline serves a week, but in order that some people can choose to buy unpackaged, the majority of people have to buy 'packaged' from a supermarket, because that's the only way we can safely and economically feed all the people. The sheer numbers make that the case. What Shantanu (below) doesn't mention is the waste of food inherent in the market system in India, which means that up to 50% of all food produced is wasted. The right level of packaging is important to make sure we waste little and that food reaches us safely, but it's great to offer options. I just hope that nobody drives a long way just to avoid buying packaging, that really would defeat the object!

By: Lindsay Yaw

Lindsay Yaw — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:57:50 +0000

Is this the next step in grocers? Super cool way of avoiding packaging and going local!

By: Shantanu Kumar Das

Shantanu Kumar Das — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:05:17 +0000

Its interesting to read this. I come from India and for most of my childhood / youth, we always used to shop at stores which had almost everything unpacked (90% of grocery) – rice, lentils, salt, sugar, cooking oil etc. At that time, I aspired to shop at glitzy stores where you could enjoy the convenience of picking up packed groceries. Now, I am in US and everything is packed and we use exceedingly high volumes of plastic, which we don't necessarily recycle – by the way, even recycling has its costs and consumes energy. Its refreshing to know that we are going back to 'older', lower consumption ways of living. Very good and timely story!