A young family are opening a new franchise in the community to meet a gap in the market and provide an easy solution to creating a sustainable lifestyle.
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Jenny and Rick Storrier along with their two daughters moved to Wagga a couple of years ago from a small farming community in the Riverina, following a decision to change direction.
The Source Bulk Foods will be filling a vacant corner shop on Forsyth and Best streets and offer the community an alternative to grocery shopping with a zero waste concept.
"We have a very holistic view in that there are all of these facets that need to come together to create wellness on an emotional, physical and mental level," Mrs Storrier said.
"This shop will contribute to that and allow people to be nourished with really great food."
"We chose this business because their values are very in line with ours and I think the focus on waste free really appealed to us because we've been so frustrated with the amount of packaging that we are constantly throwing away."
Mrs Storrier said she is "confident" this is something the community needs and will support, despite the region experiencing a challenging retail environment.
"No, I think we wondered that ourselves at one point but we have a lot of trust that people are wanting this style of living," she said.
"People are becoming more conscious and aware of the impact to the environment through the amount of waste that we are having, so we feel very confident and that it will appeal to a lot of locals."
The development application with Wagga City Council was approved last week and a new fit out is required to convert a former food outlet store into a retail space.
Mrs Storrier said her current business Down to Earth Birth will be put on hold as it has been "madness" since council approved the store.
"I will put my own business on maternity leave or on pause for a few months until we find out groove with this and then eventually be able to slowly infiltrate my other business back in as well," she said.
"It's going to be interesting building our business with two young girls, but we do have good support networks around.
"The thing that really appealed to us about this shop is that we want our daughters to grow up in a business where they can come into our workplace and be influenced."
The store is set to open to the community in mid-May and will offer a "package-it-yourself" concept, which enables locals to scoop produce into brown paper bags, containers brought from home or purchasing glass jars in store.
The couple are hoping to start with six staff and chose this location that is away from the main street because of it's surroundings.
"Location and foot traffic is quite important and it's quite a busy arterial road through Wagga, there's a lot of traffic and it's still close to the main street," Mrs Storrier said.
"But it just has this homely, neighbourhood store feel to it and every time I drive down this street, I had this feeling that this was the right place because it's surrounded by homes, family and the community."
The stock will offer over 300 whole foods and household goods, with a focus on organic, vegan, gluten free and paleo friendly products sold in bulk.
Co-founder of The Source Bulk Foods Paul Medeiros said he is pleased to bring the business to Wagga.
"We are very serious about offering customers the best quality products at the best price, while doing our bit for the environment and actively supporting community initiatives - values we know are shared by Jenny and Rick," Mr Medeiros said.
"Our whole mantra is going back to basics.
"We know our customers are very savvy and want to know where their food is from, which is something we really focus on delivering."
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