CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bulk products, artisan soaps, hand-crafted artwork and more line the shelves of Mindful Market CLT, a sustainability-centered home essentials and art shop located on West Boulevard.
What started as a passion project in 2019 has blossomed into a South End storefront, and shop owners Tatyana Reisini and Maddy Ebbert say the best is yet to come.
Reisini started Good Earth Essentials, a low-waste shop aimed to help people create sustainable and environmentally-conscious lifestyles, with a business partner in 2019 while she was a Cabarrus County teacher. Together they offered a pop-up shop at markets in the Charlotte area.
Eventually, she decided to pivot and pursue it full-time, opening up shop at The Market at 7th Street in Uptown Charlotte.
“I started the business kind of with the idea of like, there wasn't something like this previously in Charlotte, and if I was looking for it then other people were looking for it,” Reisini said. “And I just had so many ideas, and I really just wanted to see this come to life. And so I knew that if I really wanted to put my heart and soul into this, I was gonna have to step back from teaching.”
Mindful Market CLT opens in South End
Reisini was able to grow her business while at The Market at 7th Street with help from a Center City Small Business Innovation Fund grant that allowed her to buy inventory and build a website to support e-commerce.
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During her time on 7th Street, Reisini said one of the highlights was building her customer base and engaging with customers. One of those customers was Ebbert.
“I remember being so nervous to go up to her and be like, 'Would you ever want some of my cards,' and she got so excited about the idea of doing like hemp seed cards and everything like that,” Ebbert said. “Our stuff did really well together. So, you know, it's just really cool to start from complete strangers to be co-owning a shop.”
When Reisini’s lease was nearing its end in 2021, she knew it was time to take the next step and open her own storefront. Reisini and Ebbert officially partnered to form Mindful Market CLT, just a few stops away along Charlotte's light rail from the 7th Street location.
“It's just kind of blossomed into something really awesome,” Reisini said. “I'm super grateful to have been able to open this with her and be able to just kind of share this space. Even though we're two kind of different concepts, they're really connected with sustainability and with women's empowerment, and women-owned businesses, and all of that. So it's been really great experience and a really great journey. And this part’s also just starting, so I'm excited about it.”
Mindful Market CLT’s focus on sustainability is part of a growing movement to make environmentally-conscious choices, both on an individual level and on a wider scale – including at the city level.
In 2018, Charlotte City Council adopted the Strategic Energy Action Plan. Although Mindful Market CLT isn’t affiliated with the city initiative, they share a focus on sustainability. On the city scale, the focus is specifically on zero-carbon sourcing for municipal energy and ultimately becoming a low-carbon city by 2050.
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“It is absolutely going to take huge partnership with the private sector with individuals in the community, government sector to make a difference on this,” Sarah Hazel, chief sustainability and resiliency officer for the City of Charlotte, previously told WCNC Charlotte, adding that everybody doing their part will make a huge difference.
Ebbert said she’s noticed more people pivoting to sustainable practices during the pandemic, both for self-care and care of the planet. For those considering taking steps to sustainable living, Ebbert said it’s not a quick purchase that’ll cause change – it’s an internal mindset.
“The number one thing is mindset,” Ebbert said. “So instead of going and impulse buying, or throwing away all your plastic and getting brand new, sustainable things, stuff like that -- is changing your mindset. So starting to really consider why you're buying things. How long are you going to use it? Do you really need it? Is it something that will make your life better?”
The shop officially opened for business on Saturday and on June 18 will have a grand opening party featuring food vendors, fresh and dried floral bouquets and more.
“It's been a lot of work,” Reisini said. “It's been a lot of learning. And it's not something that I ever thought that I would do. But I couldn't picture myself doing anything else right now.”
On top of planning for the big move to a brick and mortar space and grand opening, Reisini has been experiencing another major milestone: She’s a new mom. Reisini said opening the space she’s dreamed about for years and creating a woman-owned business holds great weight for her as a mom.
“To me owning a business and doing these things is no different than you know, our neighbors who might have women and men who own it, or a family who owns it, and I just had a daughter four months ago,” Reisini said. “So this is huge for me to be… like a good role model for her.”
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Reisini said Ebbert, their employee Ashley, friends and family have all been supportive in the transition in an effort to make the dream a reality.
“It's just so exciting to see your dreams come to fruition. And I also, at least for myself, strongly believe that just because I'm a mother doesn't mean that I can't be other things,” Reisini said. “I can be a business owner, I can be a friend, I can be a wife, I can be you know, in the community doing these things while also raising a child.”
Whether you’re in need of bulk products ranging from facial cleanser to dish detergent or looking for the perfect to-go glass with locally-made designs, Mindful Market CLT hopes you’ll swing by, take a look around, and ask questions.
Reisini stresses you won’t just be supporting one local business but a whole community of small businesses in the region.
“All of the places where I get our products are either women-owned small businesses or just other small businesses who have a niche in sustainability,” Reisini said. “You're creating a product that they really believe in, and I'm super excited to have it here on our shelves.”
Contact Emma Korynta at ekorynta@wcnc.com or follow her on Twitter.