Naked Pantry Emsworth - The eco lifestyle store that's helping people reduce their plastic waste

The former newsagents of a Hampshire town has been transformed into a eco lifestyle store that is helping locals reduce their plastic waste.
Bradly and Kharran Piper have opened the Naked Pantry in the High Street, Emsworth. The new store is at the same site where they ran a newsagents for 16 years. The opportunity arose to get back into the shop and they earmarked a gap in the market for people that want to buy quality goods and ingredients in an environmentally friendly way.

Bradley and Kharran Piper have opened the Naked Pantry in Emsworth, selling a wealth of different products to the local community, from pastas and sauces, to coffee beans (Photos by Alex Shute)
Kharran said: "Going back 16 years ago we actually ran the newsagents that was here previously. We had the newsagents for 10 years and then we sold the business to a couple that ran it for another 16 years. When they gave their notice to say they were leaving, that's when we thought, right what can we do? Let's get back in our shop, back into retail, what does Emsworth need?"

The couple had offers to rent the shop out to other businesses, but none that they felt were what the high street needed. Bradley said: "Before deciding to open this, we were just going to rent the property out as we did before. We love charity shops, we love estate agents, and we were approached by a lot of them.
"Being local Emsworth people, we wanted something that would be better for the high street rather than just office spaces. So, we looked at what was needed. We were trying to cut down our own packaging and use less plastics, so we looked at a business model and thought that was the one to go for."
The store sells a wide variety of goods, from soaps and candles, to shampoo's and conditioners, and dry pantry foods and coffee beans. Customers have been impressed with the transformation of the store and the goods that are on offer. Bradley said: "We have had a fantastic reception, every single person that has come into the store has loved the décor, loves what we are doing, and loves that it's in Emsworth,. We are loving it as well so it has been perfect so far."

The re-fillable aspect of the business has also been an aspect that has been welcomed by customers. Bradley said: "The dry pantry foods are sold by weight so you can have as little or as much as you wish. A lot of people love that because they can try a product without taking too much of it. Then we have the body and beauty side which is shampoo's, conditioners and household goods, all sold from bottles from the store here or we can refill your own bottles for you."

The Naked Pantry is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday's from 9am to 4pm

The News 30th March