Contrary to popular belief The Radical Grocery Store does not exist soley as a dealer of delicious vegan junk food. I created this store as a social enterprise with the primary (but not only) aim to make ethical grocery shopping more accessible by:
- Doing all of the research and ethics interrogations of companies on my customers behalf.
- Bringing all the most ethical products together in one convenient location.
- Bringing down the price of ethical products by having lower mark ups, negotiating discounts with suppliers, buying in bulk and creating economies of scale.
- Creating a retail environment that is accessible for as many people as possible including those who experience disabilities, face social stigma, shop with young children etc
- Connecting and collaborating with other social enterprises and non-profits.
The seemingly insignificant decisions made everyday in grocery stores collectively have a massive impact on the world and ethical grocery products should not be accessible only to a privileged few. One of my hopes was that if ethical grocery shopping became accessible to more people that together we could start having a massive impact on the ethics of our multinational corporation controlled, profit driven food systems and encourage the growth of ethical initiatives such as organically grown, fairly traded, sweat shop free, GM free, cruelty free, vegan, reuseable, upcycled, recycled, compostable and cooperatively grown/made/bought/traded products in Australia.
However, this grand plan was dreamed up by an ambitious 22 year old with endless time, energy and enthusiasm on her hands and unfortunately, 5 years later I'm now more than a little jaded, burnt out and struggling with my mental health. It's now time for me to take an incredibly well earned break and let someone else step up and take over the role of Melbourne's favourite vegan junk food dealer.
If someone has the time, energy, passion and funds to keep the Radical dream alive I would be overjoyed to pass it on to new owners. Selling/handing over a business involves a lot of work though so I wont be pursuing this option unless someone is really serious and ready to jump in straight away.
As things currently stand the store will continue to be open usual hours, 10am-7pm weekdays & 11am-5pm weekends, 7 days a week, right up until Xmas eve then at 7pm I'll be closing the store for good.
To celebrate being in business for 5 long years and to thank everyone who believed in the vision and made the extra effort to support it, I'll be throwing the very last 'Big Spender Sale' until the end of the month. As with past sales the discounts will be tiered: Spend over $100 to save 10%
spend over $200 to save 20%
spend over $300 to save a whopping 30%!!*
So come on over for one last visit, stock your fridges, freezers, pantries and Xmas stockings and help us pay off all our bills before we leave.
Many thanks,
Anikee
*Cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount, excludes gift voucher purchases, sale ends at 7pm Tuesday 24th of December 2013.
