Stirling Welcomes Green Earth Lovers

Maria opened Green Earth Lovers in mid-July taking over the premises at 2, Maxwell Place which was formerly used as a newsagent. She previously worked as an agent with the Provident and on facing redundancy decided to start selling green goods.

She began by setting up a stall at local car boots sales then once her redundancy package arrived, she was able to consolidate her success by leasing premises to open a shop.

She says: “I knew that redundancies were coming and decided I wanted to do something different and something which was good for the Earth. I’ve always tried not to use too much plastic and to buy things for myself that were better for the environment – particularly for goods like cosmetics and shampoos.

So, I had a good idea about what was out there and thought that the idea of selling green products was worth pursuing and looking into more. After doing my research and sourcing goods, I began selling at car boot markets in Alloa and Falkirk.

Customers found me quite quickly because my prices were a lot lower than the shops and I was able to build up a following. People would bring along bottles – and I would save small water bottles which they could fill up – and I would be in Alloa on a Thursday and Falkirk on a Sunday.

I started doing that in May and then began to look at shops after people seemed keen to keep buying my products and told me to go for it.”