The Tare Shop Shuts Down Halifax Store
HALIFAX –The Tare Shop has closed its original, Halifax location as it struggles to recapture customers whose habits changed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Owner and CEO Kate Pepler opened the shop in October 2018 to support Halifax’s zero-waste movement. At the time, the Tare Shop was Nova Scotia’s first zero-waste bulk store.
The store sells traditional foods like nuts, pasta, and dried beans, as well as products that are tougher to buy waste-free, like cleaners, shampoos, and peanut butter.
Four years after that 2018 opening, Pepler is shutting down her store’s Halifax location and consolidating in Dartmouth after seeing customers in Halifax decline by more than 40 percent.
Pepler says closing her doors in Halifax was “tough but ultimately the right decision.”
Traffic just hasn’t come back to the Halifax store, meanwhile, The Tare Shop’s Dartmouth location has been “slowly picking up and gaining momentum.”
In a December 12 interview with Huddle, Pepler says the Covid-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the business.
“Covid has just changed so many things about how people shop, and their habits. Even the economy we’re in right now is in large part related to Covid,” Pepler says.
With inflation putting financial pressure on more and more people, Pepler believes fewer people are thinking about shopping sustainably because of the perception that it’s more expensive.
Pepler argues that’s a misconception and has aggressively marketed the idea that bulk shopping at places like the Tare Shop is often cheaper than at grocery chains..
However, asking people to make a special trip for their dried beans is still tough in the current environment.
“Even through Covid, there’s only so much doom and gloom that we can all take in at once. And it’s easy for apathy to turn on and go up. It can feel like ‘what’s the point of doing anything if the world is so messed up anyways?’ But, in fact, shopping at the Tare Shop makes a huge difference and can help you feel like you are contributing and are doing something,” she says.
Pepler points out that, since it opened, the Halifax Tare Shop has kept more than 237,000 plastic bags and 26,500 coffee cups from the garbage. The shop also donated 35 kilograms of food to the Halifax Community Fridge.
In a social media post announcing the Halifax closure, Pepler said she “looks back on our time in Halifax with pride at what we’ve accomplished.”
“We were quickly supported by a vibrant and passionate community,” she wrote. “Our team has been an incredible source of support and inspiration. We are deeply grateful to everyone we have had a chance to work with at the Halifax store, and especially to those who have worked with us through the difficulty of the past few years.”
Pepler closed the doors of her Halifax store for the last time on December 11. She says that while she’s sad she had to do it, she’s excited for the shop’s future in Dartmouth.
The Dartmouth Tare Shop remains open at the same hours it has been and Pepler says customers can also support The Tare SHop through its online shop and delivery service.
Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s editor, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].