Allison Burgund opened Fill & Refill in Edwards, Colo., two years ago and moved it to a new space in the small town’s Riverwalk commercial district in August. Refill stores may not be appearing on every block yet, but they’re certainly filtering into many blocks in both tiny towns and major metropolitan areas. So, I’m a big fan of having a store like ours on every block.” That supply chain would be very local and personal. And I think, in a more sustainable world, we would all have connections to the people in our neighborhood who are making some of the things that we need. “For true sustainability, I personally would never want to have a thousand stores. “I do think we’re going to see a wave in the next five, 10 years and eventually have tons of zero-waste stores-and I’m really happy that it’s a local, grassroots thing,” says Kayli Kunkel, owner of Earth & Me, a refill shop in the New York City borough Queens.

Undoubtedly, though, consumers will be learning a lot more about refills. There are sanitation concerns, tougher margins than customary retail and shopper unfamiliarity that forces refill store owners to provide a heavy dose of consumer education. However compelled consumers might be to make sustainable choices, refill stores aren’t without complications. A recent survey of 1,017 American adults by GreenPrint, an environmental technology company, discovered nearly two-thirds would pony up for eco-conscious merchandise. The advancement of refill retail is happening as consumer surveys are increasingly detecting that people are inclined to pay a premium for sustainable goods. They enable customers to load and reload reusable vessels with everything from face serum to body wash to prevent plastic from flooding into oceans and landfills.

Shopping and sustainability aren’t the most likely combination, but a growing number of refill stores popping up across the country are showing people how they can stock up their bathrooms while minimizing their impact on the earth.

Quip refill retail store