In Good Company co-founder Sarah sits down with Gather, a plastic free refill shop on Peckham's Bellenden Road. They stock mostly organic goods because organic is better for the planet and their mission is to help our communities live a life of less waste.

I’m spoilt for choice with good companies in Peckham. As the Co-Founder In Good Company, that’s extremely useful as I get to spend so much time with local good businesses, practicing what I preach and also learning from them.

One of my favourite good places is Gather on Peckham’s Bellenden Road. It’s a fantastic plastic free refill shop that’s stocked to the brim with tasty treats, household items, pantry basics, wine, beauty supplies and even children’s toys. 

I’m going to admit - I was intimidated by the whole refill shop thing in the beginning. What did I need to bring in? How do I do the weighing thing? Was everything going to be really expensive? Was it just for hipsters and hard core eco-warriors?

But one step into Gather, an amazingly warm and welcoming space, showed me that I didn’t need to worry. The staff there are knowledgeable, helpful and patient. Things are well-priced (they even have some items marked as lower than Sainsbury’s) and they have bags and bottles to put things in if you’ve arrived empty handed.

It’s a great place and I always walk away well-stocked with high quality items and feeling pretty great about having done my part to reduce plastic waste. 

The other day, I was lucky enough to chat to Tash, the owner of Gather, to find out more about the shop and how things are going for them. You can read the full chat below. I found the conversation really enlightening on what small, purpose driven businesses are facing right now.

(Photo Credit: Gather Website)

Interview with Tash

Can you tell us a bit about Gather, what your mission is and how you got started?

Yeah, so Gather is a plastic free refill shop, as you said. We stock mostly organic goods because organic is better for the planet. And our mission is to help our communities live a life of less waste. My background is in a totally different area, in the civil service, but this was something that I started to really care about and I wanted to do something that mattered and could help people make a change.

What are some of the biggest challenges you're facing at the moment running a small business?

Now is a really tough time to be a small business owner. Understandably with everything that's going on in the world. It is harder for people to take the time, and have the money to shop small and shopping small really matters. So that is definitely the hardest thing. We've got a lot of our suppliers that have been going out of business, a lot of other refill shops we know are finding it quite tough. 

Can you tell us a bit more about the community you're building? You do more than just have the shop.

Yeah, so that was always a key part of our mission. And then COVID came along which kind of threw a spanner in the works for a while. We've got a book club, though that's been going for three years. We meet once a month and talk about sustainable books. And we also started hosting some events in the store. So we've done a kombucha workshop, a sauerkraut workshop, a couple of clothes swaps - we've got another one coming up. We did a finance series. So it's really important to us to bring people together so that we can learn and also just have fun.

Have you seen the way people shop and their ideas around sustainability changed since you started Gather?

Yes. So we had nine months pre COVID And there was a big buzz around at the time, that was 2019, the Blue Planet episode had come out the year before - it was very popular. We had lots of people just walking past really interested in the concept. Then when COVID, hit it ended up being more about our locals, our regulars coming less often but buying bigger shops with us. Because they saw us as a safe space and they could chat to us, it was a much more enjoyable experience and going to the supermarket.

I'd say over the last year or so habits have changed again. So once the last lockdown ended, everyone had a bit more freedom and more time and they did different things with it. And it hasn't really bounced back from then, is what I would say. So it's steady, but it's not the same level as it used to be. 

What is your favourite thing that you sell in the shop?

The Snickers bars, they're absolutely amazing. And if I'm gonna go for something that's healthy, it's the olive oil which is just delicious.

What has been your biggest success with Gather so far?

The amount of impact that we've had. So we're still standing after three years of stuff being thrown at us. And in that time, in our first three years, we helped our community save almost 172,000 pieces of single use packaging - which is pretty amazing. And I think they've also done 46,000 plastic free swaps. So that is that's massive. That's community and that's action.

What is your favourite good business that you like to go to? (other than Gather)

So I'm gonna share three.

One, Old Spike, they are like us the social enterprise and they're Peckham based, their coffee is great and they're doing really great things to help fight homelessness.

Two, Crisis. Buying secondhand clothes or secondhand anything, I love it, and it's also a really lovely space, the one that's on Rye Lane.

And three, this is a general one, and a bit of a cheat - your local refill store. So, all these guys are trying to do something that really matters, trying to help people, help the planet, the local community. Go and support your local one. 

How can In Good Company help your business?

So for us, it's about spreading the word. Getting people out there who are looking for businesses like ours, but haven't yet found us, don't know where to look - helping them find us, and showing them that there's a better way to shop and they're supporting their local businesses as well.

You can watch the full interview with Tash here. 

Please check out Gather and visit if you’re in the Peckham area and support other refill shops local to you. They are doing great things.

Learn more about zero-waste stores and what to expect if you're new to refill shopping. 

And here's our guide to the perfect eco-conscious and ethical day out in Peckham, London.