The Numbers Are Moving

Five years ago, refill stores were a niche concept found mostly in Portland, Brooklyn, and the Bay Area. Today, there are hundreds of refill and low-waste stores across the United States, and new ones are opening every month in cities that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Nashville, Boise, Tulsa, Raleigh. This is not a coastal trend anymore.

So what changed?

Consumer Behavior Shifted

The pandemic changed how people think about shopping. More people started cooking at home, paying attention to what was in their products, and questioning the amount of packaging that arrived at their doorstep. When you are stacking Amazon boxes by the recycling bin three times a week, the appeal of buying dish soap in your own bottle becomes more obvious.

Surveys consistently show that younger consumers (under 40) are willing to change their shopping habits for environmental reasons, but only if the alternative is convenient and reasonably priced. Refill stores have gotten better at meeting both criteria.

The Business Model Matured

Early refill stores often struggled with thin margins, limited product selection, and high customer education costs. The stores opening today benefit from several years of industry learning:

  • Better supplier networks: More manufacturers now offer products in refill-ready formats (5-gallon pails, bulk drums, gravity-bin-compatible packaging). This was a genuine bottleneck five years ago.
  • Hybrid models: Stores that combine food, cleaning, body care, and home goods generate more revenue per visit than single-category shops. Most new stores open with a hybrid approach.
  • Lower startup costs: The equipment and fixtures for a refill store have become more standardized and affordable. Used gravity bins and dispensers from stores that closed are available on the secondary market.
  • Concentrates and refill subscriptions: Selling concentrated cleaning products and offering subscription refill services creates recurring revenue that stabilizes cash flow.

City Policies Are Helping

Municipal regulations are nudging consumers toward refill-friendly habits, even if that is not their primary intent:

  • Plastic bag bans (now in effect in hundreds of cities and several states) normalize bringing your own bags and containers
  • Composting mandates in cities like San Francisco and Portland make residents more aware of their waste footprint
  • Extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws in states like Maine, Oregon, and Colorado are starting to shift packaging costs back to manufacturers, which could make refill formats more price-competitive over time

Social Media Made It Visible

Refill shopping is inherently visual. Jars filling with colorful spices, soap pumping into a glass bottle, bins of grains and nuts in neat rows. This content performs well on Instagram and TikTok, which gives small refill stores a marketing channel that costs nothing but time.

Several refill stores have built large local followings through short, simple videos of the filling process. That organic visibility drives foot traffic in a way that traditional advertising cannot match for a small business budget.

The Gap in the Market Is Real

Grocery stores have largely abandoned bulk sections over the past decade. The bins that Whole Foods and natural food stores used to maintain have been shrinking or disappearing, replaced by pre-packaged options that are easier to manage but less flexible for customers. Refill stores are filling a gap that conventional retail voluntarily left open.

For shoppers who want to buy a tablespoon of cardamom or half a cup of rice, there are increasingly few options other than a dedicated refill store.

What It Means for Shoppers

More stores means more competition, which is good for consumers. Prices are becoming more competitive, product selection is expanding, and stores are getting better at the customer experience. It also means you are more likely to have a store within a reasonable distance, even if you do not live in a major metro.

What It Means for the Industry

The refill and low-waste retail sector is still small compared to conventional grocery, but it is past the experimental phase. Stores are surviving, expanding, and in many cases thriving. The question is no longer "will refill stores work?" but "how big can this get?"

The answer depends partly on whether suppliers continue scaling up refill-ready products, and partly on whether customers keep choosing convenience with less waste over convenience with more packaging.

Find a Store

Curious what is available near you? Browse the Refill Map directory to find refill stores across the country. With new stores listing regularly, it is worth checking back even if you did not find one close to you last time.