In line with our visits to our partner grocery stores throughout France, we went to meet Marlène and Mélanie, the two founders of the “Les Tarées du Vrac” grocery store. And to make you discover them, we invite you to live a part of our exchanges with Mélanie. By bike Simone!
Can you tell me about your grocery store in a few sentences?
“ The Tarées du Vrac grocery store was born in March 2021 following the meeting, a few months earlier, of Marlène Bernabé and Mélanie Chauvin (myself). Marlene had just finished fine arts, but felt that she would not have a career in this medium. As for me, I was beginning a retraining in commerce after 15 years in social work. We met in the store where we both worked as sales assistants. A few minutes were enough for the friendly and professional crush to occur (all around a discussion on the bulk bags that I was sewing at the time!). We 've both been zero waste activists for years and committed to protecting the environment , and we've each dreamed of setting up a bulk grocery store for months, without feeling the ability to set up this project alone. A few weeks after our meeting, the project was already taking shape.”
What was the click that pushed you to set up your grocery store?
“The desire to give meaning to our professional life has always existed for both of us, being able to commit more to our environment and in particular through the reduction of waste seemed more and more a priority, our meeting made the rest !"
Why organic? What are your commitments?
“ Organic is not an end in itself. An organic product that comes from the other side of the planet is not interesting for us . What leads us to choose a food product for our shop will be first of all its taste (necessarily), its origin (the more it is produced locally, the better it is) and if it is organic , it's the best! If it is not organic, in the best case, we travel to the farm, in the worst case, we discuss as much as possible with the producer to ensure that the product is as healthy as possible. As for the deposit , it is our priority when the product cannot be sold in bulk. We refuse to work with suppliers and producers who do not wish to practice the deposit.”
For you, what is a good wine? And what are your favorite wines?
“We are not great wine connoisseurs, although we appreciate it. We have a slight preference for Languedoc .”
I discover the whole range of Oé wines
Why did you choose Oé organic wines?
“ We chose Oé because you offer the deposit of your bottles in partnership with Consign'Up (and also for the quality of the wines of course!)”
What is your long-term ambition?
“The idea would be to continue to find good products to enrich our assortment and to increase the share of products produced or processed in our region. We have also been trying for a few weeks to find producers and suppliers who are willing to deliver to us in 20 or 25 kg containers (rather than "small" 3 or 5 kg bags), especially for rice, pasta... always with the aim of limiting our waste. And why not convince other producers to use the deposit ?”
What is the thing you are most proud of?
“To have had the courage to open a business in full confinement!”
How do you help your community/customers to consume better and engage?
“The big advantage of a local business is that we can exchange a lot with our customers, in particular on the interest of such and such a product or such and such an approach for our health, that of the planet, on how to do without plastic , we give tips, recipes for using a product they don't know... Our great satisfaction: when customers finally come with their own containers and no longer use the kraft bags available or when they bring their jars deposited even when the deposit is voluntary (not paying)!”
What advice would you have liked to have had before you started?
“We were very well surrounded, we lacked nothing! The rest is learned, with humility, as you go.“
What would you like to say to Oé customers to help them take another step for the environment?
“I think that we simply and humbly need to reflect on the interest of the deposit : reduction of the energy spent to recycle the glass and reduction of the raw material necessary to create the glass again when it can no longer be recycling, and the simplicity of its practice.”
We give you an appointment at the Tarées du Vrac in Toulouse (for the Toulouse of course) to discover this grocery store full of pep's (and good organic wines 😉)
Find all our partner grocery stores on the map of our points of sale 👉🏼 here
