These “unboxed” stores sell groceries, cosmetics and cleaning supplies in all their naked beauty

By Rebecca Philps | Photography By Daniel Ehrenworth | February 20, 2020

By Rebecca Philps | Photography By Daniel Ehrenworth | 02/20/2020

Eco and Amour

In a Scarborough industrial park, Sarah Marcus and Laura Craig crank out refillable home and personal care products under their Eco and Amour label and stock luxe green home and beauty brands like Lines of Elan, the Bare Home and the Sudsatorium. They’ve also placed kiosks of refillables in Pollocks Home Hardware on Roncey and Shea Organics in Collingwood, with more partner retailers coming this year. 30 Bertrand Ave., 647-948-9084, ecoandamour.com

Solid dish soap scented with grapefruit and orange essential oils. $18

Jocelyn’s Soil Booster Worm Manure, made with food waste from Ontario businesses. $20

Unboxed

Michelle Genttner and Luis Martins owned a College Street brewpub. When they closed it in 2018, they focused on their next project: Unboxed Market, a BYO jars, bags or beeswax wraps grocery store full of seasonal produce, specialty grains and flours, and Ontario-raised meat from the butcher counter (especially the house-made Portuguese chouriço). In the basement industrial kitchen, chefs prep daily meals and catering trays using ingredients from the upstairs market. 1263 Dundas St. W., 416-533-9017, unboxedmarket.com

Their bulk oils and vinegars are top sellers

Honey on tap from Ontario beekeeper Graeme Foers. $14.59 per pound

Moo Free Blue Lavender Majik almond milk. $6 for 473mL

The Green Jar

Sisters Mara and Tannis Bundi grew up in a minimal-waste household on a 50-acre horse farm in Stouffville. As adults in Toronto, they found it both time-consuming and frustrating to maintain that lifestyle. Their solution was to open the Green Jar in midtown, a hub for zero-wasters packed with refillable personal care and household products, and gizmos like a reverse osmosis water station and bamboo teething rings for baby ecowarriors. 1061 St. Clair Ave. W., 416-652-6991, thegreenjarshop.com

Organic mesh cotton produce bags. $6.99 per bag

Routine activated charcoal natural deodorant. It works, even on Tannis’s preteen boy. $32 for 100g

Meow Meow Tweet Coconut Cacao Vegan Lip Balm in a compostable paper tube. $21 for 28g

Pretty Clean Shop

Miriam Juarez’s Pretty Clean Shop in the Junction sells refillable body, hair, skin, beauty and home care products, including creamy Elate lipsticks, makeup encased in compostable bamboo, and turmeric and calendula–infused shampoo and conditioner bars by Unwrapped Life. 3072 Dundas St. W., 416-766-9633, prettycleanshop.com