Browsing: Company News

It snowed here in Gateshead, and we are feeling so festive in the warehouse at Ethical Superstore! Deliveries are coming and going, and all staff are working hard, packing away to the sounds of seasonal music on the radio.

Read the rest of The Elves Come To Help at Ethical Superstore! »

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No – it’s Santa Claus on his bike! A pedal powered Father Christmas may not be the Santa that you’re familiar with, but the residents of Newcastle and Gateshead are going to have to rub their eyes and look again – EthicalSuperstore.com is pioneering a brand new green Christmas delivery service this year, with same-day delivery from Mr Claus himself (or perhaps an EthicalSuperstore understudy…!)

The EthicalSuperstore.com Santa deliveries are a great way to ensure that not only are your Christmas gifts ethically chosen, but that they are delivered with minimal environmental impact. If you live in the NE1 to NE9 postcodes, all you need to do is make sure that your order is in by 10am. Request Santa delivery service in the checkout page delivery comments, and your order will be personally delivered before 2pm the very same day. As well as feeling happy in the knowledge that your delivery is carbon neutral, you’ve got reassurance that you’re beating the Christmas rush with a delivery guarantee that will bring a smile to your face, while enjoying a dose of the EthicalSuperstore Super Service.

The trusty steed that Santa will be riding is a Kona Ute cargo bike, specially designed for carrying a load in an eco-friendly fashion, without the need for a car. The Powerplus Swallow Wind Up Bike Lights will be lighting the way, and the bike is also decked out with Ecosavers Solar LED Lights for decoration as well as extra visibility.

So make sure you get your order in for Santa, and if you see him riding through your area, be sure to give him a shout of encouragement!

Are you in Newcastle upon Tyne on Saturday? If you are, we’d love you to come down and meet us at the Alternative Christmas Gift Fair – it’s  the perfect opportunity to say hello to the EthicalSuperstore team and take a look at some of our top Christmas gift ideas.

We’ll be at the Holy Trinity Church in Jesmond between 10am-2pm (Churchill Road, just next to the Armstrong Bridge, by Cradlewell). Pop along and hi, enjoy a cup of fairtrade tea or coffee, and peruse our gifts, cards and eco-friendly gadgets. Our challenge is to solve all of your Christmas present dilemmas in one swoop!

There’ll be plenty of other stalls there too, including Traidcraft, People Tree and Divine Chocolate. We hope to see you there!

Whether it’s simply an ‘urban myth’ or simply a popular but unsubstantiated statistic, the fact remains there are numerous claims that over 2500 left handed people are killed each year from using products designed for right handed people.

These same sources claim that it’s fairly common knowledge that left handed people do not live as long as right handed people, mostly due to accidents. Even if you look at a simple tool, like scissors, they have to be used in a less than efficient way in order to make them work. So a task that might be usually considered safe may become extremely unsafe.

Here at Ethical Superstore we’re passionately committed to providing the widest range of ethical products to the widest range of consumers.  So we’re proud to announce that we have worked with all our chocolate producers to compile a ‘safe list’ of chocolate products which not only meet strict ethical criteria such as Fairtrade, Organic and Vegan criteria but are completely ambidextrous.

Click here to view our full range of ambidextrous chocolate bars.

These are exciting times. We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve joined forces with Natural Collection, our companies are merging to create a single combined business to offer ethical consumers the very best in eco-friendly, organic and fair trade products. The combined business will continue trading under both names using both online and mail order catalogue to reach our customers.

Natural Collection, founded in 1999 by Julian and Joanne Spector, is a pioneering mail order retailer who offers consumers natural and organic products through the pages of its catalogue and online shop. A three-time winner of The Observer’s Ethical Awards and positive voice for change in the sector, www.naturalcollection.com has blazed a trail on ethical retail even before it became fashionable.

Here at Ethicalsuperstore.com, we’re the younger of the two companies, founded in 2004 by Vic Morgan and Andy Redfern, as the one-stop shop for fair trade, organic and eco-friendly products.  With a range of over 5000 products, our aim is to empower producers both locally and globally.

“Joining forces will enable both companies to build for an exciting future and to steer a good path through the challenging retail environment.” commented Andy Redfern, the CEO of the merged business. Joanne Spector, co-founder of Natural Collection added “Our new partnership creates great energy as we join together in our drive to promote fair trade and ecological products, which is especially important during a time when producers need the most support”.

With a shared mission to put the ethical consumer first, the combined organisation will continue to empower consumers to play an even greater role in defining the future of shopping. Pioneering a new era of information-intensive shopping we will enable shoppers to make more sustainable decisions.  “‘Hippy’ has evolved into ‘hip’ as ethical products now range from eco-gadgets to fair trade gourmet coffees.” added Vic Morgan, co-founder of the EthicalSuperstore.com “Despite adverse economic climate this team has no intention of being held back.  Together we are stronger”

Julian Spector said “We see tremendous growth opportunities in the UK market. Both companies are perfectly aligned with a common vision; by working together we can offer a blend of expertise which means we can be relied on as a one-stop-shop for all your ethical needs.”

At Ethical Superstore we are passionate about supporting good causes, trying to tackle injustices, and doing our bit to make the world a better place. That’s why, where ever possible, we endeavour to stock products that can back up their claims; whether through accreditation like the Fairtrade Label or an endorsement by the Soil Association.

Ethical Superstore have been donating £1 for every order placed by our customer community this week to Comic Relief (we’ve raised over £700 so far!), and our staff have felt compelled to get involved.

That’s why when Red Nose Day was on the horizon we set about making our own contribution to the day that it often remembered for slapstick comedy, over-sized noses and fancy dress. We’re not one’s to break with convention on this one, so we all donned our finest 80′s gear and Red Noses, tucked into some home made party food, and took part in a couple of quizzes all in the name of a good cause.

There was no place for any Mitchell & Webb style Flashdance routines (despite Vic’s outfit!) but we did all share Comic Relief’s vision which is ‘a just world free from poverty’.

However, what’s the story behind the headlines? Where does your money go? And what happens when the cameras stop rolling?

Read the rest of Behind The Scenes Of Comic Relief »

Back in January our Managing Director Andy wrote a blog “Our 2009 pledge to you” and asked for your feedback and comments. We were really pleased by the number of you who took the time to write in and leave some great feedback and ideas. Thanks!

From your responses it became clear that packaging was an issue close to many of your hearts. Unfortunately a great deal of packaging often just goes straight to landfill, so in the belief that through small changes each of us can make a big difference, I decided to review our current packaging and find greener, more eco-friendly alternatives.

One of the main bones of contention mentioned by many of you was our use of bubble wrap. As an ethical company, bubble wrap is a great source of conflict as it unfortunately isn’t green (eco-friendly I mean!). It is annoyingly necessary to protect glass and fragile items with bubble wrap but the plastic nature of the product means it creates waste that fills up landfills and takes many years to biodegrade.  This was the first item that I wanted to change and I was so pleased to find a wonderful new green alternative to this conundrum – biodegradle bubble wrap.  GeoBubble has the same benefits as traditional bubble wrap – protecting orders from damage while in transit but, what is so fantastic is it will safely dissolve naturally into the environment. And it is a lovely green colour too!

Another element we wanted to change was the way that we pack our bottles. Fragile products need extra protection, but frankly our old cardboard bottle holders required a degree in advanced origami to assemble! Our new wine bottle holders are now made from reconstituted paper and are pretty robust as this video demonstrates. They’re made from 100% recycled materials and are 100% recyclable too, helping to minimise the amount of rubbish that gets sent to landfill. It makes a great excuse to buy one of our fab ethical wines!

All of the paper that we use to pack our boxes and protect your orders during transit is recycled, and with no waxy lining you can recycle this paper all over again, not to mention the fact that it’s compostable too. Another eco-friendly packaging favourite is Eco-Flo packing, which looks and functions like polyestyrene, but biodegrades exceptionally quickly (check out our video clip in The Great Packaging Debate blog post).

As often as we can we reuse old boxes which means your package sometimes doesn’t look as pretty as it could, but the ecological benefits defiantly outweigh the negatives. If we can’t find a box to reuse, we use new boxes which are specially manufactured without wax, so can therefore either be recycled or you can use them to build a fort/time machine in your living room!

We hope you’ll agree that we’re heading in the right direction with our packaging and practices, but we are always on the lookout for new inspiration so if you have any ideas we would love to hear from you.

BarryNana; Don't Leave Him Hanging!

In the run up to Go Banana’s For Fairtrade day, which is tomorrow (6th March), we here at Ethical Superstore have been racking our brains to come up with the most creative, entertaining, bizarre, and thought provoking banana-based activities!

Late last week we had a trial run of our banana-eating-a-thon, a few more games and events are in the Top Secret pipeline, and over the past couple of days we’ve been trying to get rid of a Fairtrade banana by offering it to passersby.

Let me explain; we tied a Fairtrade banana to a tree outside our offices so that it was hanging above the footpath within arm’s reach of any pedestrian, with a note attached saying “Please eat me, I’m safe & Fairtrade too!” in a hope of raising awareness of Fairtrade.

BarryNana has received a few funny looks, been ignored, been pointed at, but not once has anyone attempted to free him from his state of limbo and indulge in some Fairtrade goodness.

This got us wondering why people seem to be so adverse to freebies, why people seem to ignore what they don’t think is really there, and why people’s confusion or apathy leads to inaction or inertia.

Read the rest of Somebody Else’s Problem? »

We never like to miss the opportunity to bend the ear of a politician – yesterday we had two visit the Ethical Superstore. Wendy Morton, the prospective parliamentary candidate for Tynemouth, was welcoming Bernard Jenkin MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, to our region, and decided that Ethical Superstore would be a great example of a North East business doing well despite the tough conditions. After a tour of the warehouse and offices, a fairtrade cup of tea was enjoyed by all.

Andy Redfern commented  “It’s all too easy to criticize politicians for being out of touch, so we never like to miss the chance to let them know what it’s like at the grass roots.”

Wendy gave us this feedback “As a Conservative I support Fairtrade. Developing Countries need aid but they also need economic development, trade and skills to lift them out of poverty. That’s why I believe Fairtrade is important.

“I was really impressed by the vast range of Fairtrade and ethical products at the Ethical Superstore – they have everything from groceries, to gadgets, to gifts. But what struck me most was the innovation and imagination behind many of the products. For example handbags made from recycled juice packets, and beer glasses made from recycled bottles.

“Visiting a place like this really does provide food for thought.”

This morning’s news has been buzzing with talk of recycling, and questions of which of the leading supermarkets are engaging most effectively in the war against waste.

I for one am pleased to see such questions leading the national headlines, and it certainly made me sit up and take notice as I gulped down my morning toast and tea. It’s good to hear the BBC cross examining Heads of Food Packaging Departments, and I’m satisfied to know that British consumers are becoming discerning and environmentally aware enough to care about which shops are reducing needless packaging and which are gearing up towards the recycling effort. The premise behind the Local Government Association’s Survey of holding supermarkets accountable is a great one, and I’m encouraged to hear that since their 2007 report amounts of food packaging have decreased.

Despite improvement in some areas, the findings of the survey have also resulted in widespread criticisms of the various chains, which have in turn provoked a variety of responses both attacking and defending the key movers and shakers in the supermarket industry.  You might not have anticipated this one, but the British Retail Consortium’s Head of Environment Bob Gordon spoke out in favour of some packaging, highlighting that the survey failed to recognise the crucial role packaging plays in preserving food: “It’s a nonsense to suggest that retailers swathe their goods in masses of unnecessary packaging. This would simply be a pointless cost. Packaging reduces waste by protecting and preserving products.”

Read the rest of The Great Packaging Debate »