Package-free store and how to shop there?

On package-free stores. Significant relief on the journey to a zero-waste household.

I most often get these questions: how do you shop in such a package-free store? What can you even buy there? And isn't it more expensive than regular stores? I'll answer the first two questions in this article, and save the last question for next time, where I'll thoroughly analyze it based on collected data.

Last updated: July 11, 2024

How to find out if there's a package-free store in your area?

It's no longer true that package-free stores can only be found in the largest cities. For easier navigation, there's a map (previously reduca was used, but no one removes closed stores), where package-free stores are nicely grouped. The information isn't always current, but the map works great for a basic overview.

What product range do package-free stores offer?

I'd compare the range of package-free stores to health food stores. You'll find basic foods like grains, legumes, rice, dried fruit, seeds, nuts, spices, oils..., and also ecological household products: from soaps and shampoos, through laundry detergents, dishwasher powder, to cleaning products. Some package-free stores also carry dairy and meat products and baked goods. These are usually from local farms.

In package-free stores you might also come across foods that are very hard to find elsewhere. For example, dried mulberries, or phosphate-free baking powder. Other items are often available like: miswak (a twig replacing a toothbrush), compostable dental floss, or menstrual cups.

A good example of a package-free store's range can be Pavel's package-free store (you can see the clearest range through "quick order"). The store operates as counter service, or you can also order goods through the e-shop, have it weighed, and then pick it up. You can get a more concise list of products from the second Pardubice package-free store - beZobalka. And you can soak up the atmosphere of package-free shopping from my photos here on the blog.

Package-free store and the actual shopping process

Types of stores

The shopping method naturally depends on the type of store. There are four possible operations:

1. Self-service - customers pour and weigh goods themselves;
2. Counter service - customers just present containers and say what they want;
3. Self-service with pre-weighed goods - customers take already weighed goods in returnable containers (usually on deposit);
4. Order-based sales - usually with pickup at the store, though there are also mail-order package-free stores.

Individual store types can naturally overlap in various ways. For example, with counter-type stores, you can drop off jars with labels in the morning saying what you want where, and pick up your prepared shopping in the afternoon. This eliminates potential waiting in line.

EDIT July 2024: videos from two package-free stores

Preparing for shopping

Preparation is needed whether it's a self-service package-free store or counter service. In both cases you'll need a shopping list, according to which you'll prepare empty containers. You don't have to buy these, but can use what you have at home. Great containers are, for example, honey jars or pickle jars. If you have some plastic food containers, those are naturally also great! You can also use milk bottles, kefir bottles, or crushed tomato bottles. Besides liquids, bottles are also suitable for small seeds like chia, flax, sesame, etc.

The shopping process

You can read a description of self-service package-free shopping, for example, on the pages of the first Czech package-free store. I'll only elaborate on counter service. Partly because we don't have anything else in San Piego, and partly because it's the most common type of package-free store. Well, "elaborate" - it's not rocket science, so it's just a few bullet points:

1. You say what you want and place your container on the scale.
2. Staff weighs the jar, fills the container with the requested food, and weighs it.
3. They enter the amount into the register system and continue with the next item.

Package-free store and the advantages of shopping there

Besides not having to run with bins, plastics, and paper all the time, shopping package-free has other advantages:

• You buy really only what you need - you carry a limited number of jars with you.
• Any marketing from manufacturers or stores disappears, where you're "tempted" to buy something you didn't actually come for.
• You actually see the food you're buying. Suddenly the packaging doesn't sell, so attractive prints, enticing marketing, added vitamins, and other "deceptive nonsense in a cage" disappear. You also don't buy "expensive air" that packages are often filled with to give buyers the feeling they're buying "a lot of bang for their buck."
• Shopping package-free has a certain aura of sacredness - seeing so many real foods in one place, those colors... no graphic designer could invent that 🙂 Sometimes I feel like I'm in a luxury café.
• Package-free stores are like an oasis of calm and slowing down.
• Interesting people gather there 🙂 That is, people who don't mind doing something a little differently.
• Shopping has a "positive" and peaceful feeling. I always leave with a smile, which didn't happen when shopping in supermarkets. From those I left annoyed and took shopping as a "necessity" that I then had to recover from at home.
• You buy really the amount you need. This is especially useful with new products you have no experience with, so you don't know if they'll suit you. This is valuable not only with food but also with household products: you can try different laundry gels, dishwasher powders, etc. You won't end up throwing away basically untouched packages that don't suit you for whatever reason.

Disadvantages of shopping in package-free stores

Like everything, shopping package-free has its disadvantages. Well, sometimes it happens that the product you came for simply isn't there. It's not a supermarket where this is solved with large warehouses, and thus often large waste. In contrast, in a package-free store you might calmly hear: "We don't have it, it's coming..." It seems similar to when a person first dares to admit they don't know. We don't have to have an opinion on everything, and saying "I don't know" can sometimes be quite relieving. Although your surroundings probably won't understand you much (after all, nowadays many of us have an opinion on everything after reading one article online :D). But let's get to those disadvantages:

• Assuming you use glass jars, you'll clink like an alcoholic on the way to the package-free store. This is unpleasant when you go through reception at work, for example 😀 But you know why you're doing it and these are funny bonuses around it 🙂 If of course you don't actually drink at work, then you'd be drawing unnecessary attention to yourself 😀
• At home you might often transfer from larger jars to smaller ones so you can take the bigger ones with you to the package-free store. But in the end it's fun and with each poured food you're warmed by the feeling that no packaging was created.
• Your backpack can be damn heavy - good training for summer hiking and tourist crossings 🙂
• Risk of breaking a jar - in five years of shopping like this (March '22), it happened to me once and that was because I overstuffed my backpack and the zipper came undone. One broken jar was actually a success.
• You won't buy everything under one roof - package-free store, vegetables, butcher, bakery, tea shop... but then again you'll meet lots of interesting people (and that's written by an introvert like a log!).

If time should be the only argument against shopping package-free, then it might be a good moment to think about the "hamster wheel of life." About how to slow down that wheel, I might elaborate another time. If you'd like to pressure me to give it priority, feel free to let me know in the comments or contact me directly. 🙂 Or if you'd just like to go for tea/beer and discuss the situation in person.

Conclusion

I hope I've dispelled your doubts and you'll give package-free shopping a chance. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Next time, the promised price comparison: package-free vs supermarket.