Want to greenify your shopping habits? The best zero waste stores in Chicago can help.
Sure, the Windy City is a uniquely vibrant cultural mecca of the American Midwest, filled with friendly people, deep dish pizza, sky-high sights, and over 75 distinct neighborhoods. But it’s also home to a growing number of zero waste and bulk stores.
Sustainability is no longer a curious buzzword whispered along the city’s Magnificent Mile. Chicagoans are intent on making a positive impact on the environment while exercising some guilt-free retail therapy. And the rise of brick-and-mortar zero waste stores is a testament to the city’s vested interest in the future of the planet and its inhabitants.
We’ve previously explored Chicago’s best thrift stores (hint: they’re all impressive), and this time we’ll explore Chi-town’s most progressive offerings in the conscious-consumption category.
On your way to the Bean?
Why not pick up some bulk beans along the way from one of the top zero waste and bulk stores in Chicago for conscious consumers.
Exploring Zero Waste & Bulk Stores In Chicago
- Eco and the Flamingo Jump to store
- Tinyshop Grocer Jump to store
- EE Mercantile & Co Jump to store
- The Refilleri Jump to store
- The Unwaste Shop Jump to store
- Merz Apothecary Jump to store
- The Plant Jump to store
- The Dill Pickle Food Co-op Jump to store
- Sugar Beet Co-op Jump to store
Eco and the Flamingo
A stylish and conscious zero waste general store featuring cruelty-free, sustainable, and refillable cleaning products, female-founded Eco and the Flamingo is Chicago’s OG zero waste store.
Here you’ll find a large selection of package-free pantry foods, oils, vinegars, herbs, spices, rice, sugar, teas, and coffee.
They also happen to be one of the best refill stores in Chicago where you can bring your own containers to fill up on all of your household cleaning supplies and bath, body and beauty products.
Tinyshop Grocer
Tinyshop is the brainchild of a former advertising art director. Returnable, reusable packaging is at the heart of the Tinyshop model, but they’re careful about what goes inside their mason jars, too, with products promising to be as local, organic, and fair as possible.
Grains, flours, vegan proteins like seeds, nuts, and legumes, dried fruits, and a selection of environmentally-friendly hygiene and household goods. Tinyshop also provides honey from Hive Supply, coffee beans from Kusanya Cafe, and bread from Middle Brow Bungalow—all local businesses with community outreach programs.
They’re currently remodeling their Logan Square store but you can place an order online and pick it up at their specified pop-up location each weekend. They also offer delivery by electric car, within 6 miles of Garfield Park. Mason jars and other containers go out on deposit and get cleaned and refilled upon return to the shop.
EE Mercantile & Co
A conscious community general store, EE Mercantile & Co vows that everything it sells is from small batch brands that are earth friendly, animal friendly, and human friendly. The woman-owned quasi Chicago zero waste shop exists online, through local markets, and in a mini-shop inside Tarnish in West Town.
Not so much a zero waste store as an ethical general store, they carry everything from bespoke cocktail mixers and tonics to eco-cards and stationary, salves, nuts, syrups, and soaps.
Across the products they retail, they try to reduce plastics as much as they can and now offer their own label of lip balm in compostable packaging and soy candles.
The Refilleri
One of the best known refill stores in Chicago, The Refilleri offers a variety of personal care and home goods all in refillable, reusable or compostable packaging.
Shampoos, laundry detergents, face wash and conditioner through pumps available to fill. You can bring your own jars, or use one provided by the store. The Refilleri also sells soaps, candles, pet products, and other personal and household products, largely sourced from locally-owned companies and makers. Future offerings will include dry goods, makeup and even zero waste wine!
They’re currently open for online order for pickup or local delivery, as well as having a new permanent location.
The Unwaste Shop
A recently opened zero waste store in Chicago that’s committed to eco-friendly products that are good for you and good for the planet, The Unwaste Shop is available either online and or in their brand new brick-and-mortar location.
Zero waste kits, food storage kits, household products, personal and hygiene items, and a refill station of home and bath products.
Merz Apothecary
This isn’t a totally zero-waste store, but we’ve included it because Merz Apothecary is a Chicago landmark that’s been operational since 1875, with tour buses from around the Midwest that make regular stops. “Stepping in here is the closest thing to time travel,” says Gwenyth Paltrow’s Goop.
Featuring homeopathic medicines, supplements, and natural self-care products, Merz is a mecca for people who want unique and natural products. With over 14,000 offerings for health, beauty, and wellness, there are more tinctures, vitamins, and supplements available than we’d know what to do with.
Most products are all-natural. Wholesale is available and gets our thumbs up as the most sustainable way to shop here.
The Plant
The Plant is a 100,000 sq. ft. shared eco-space of multiple local small businesses, pop-ups, and sustainable farming initiatives, some of which provide package free shopping in Chicago.
Its small food businesses are committed to material reuse and closed-loop systems. For instance, the Whiner beer company there uses spent grains to generate energy for the whole building.
These Chicago-based zero waste grocery and bulk food stores include more than twenty small businesses, including indoor and outdoor farms, kombucha and beer breweries, a bakery, a cheese distributor, a coffee roaster and other sustainable food producers and distributors.
The Dill Pickle Food Co-op
Highly publicized in the media, the ever-vibrant Dill Pickle Food Co-op is a Chicago zero waste food store and deli co-operative mainstay. The store is collectively owned by over 4,000 Chicago neighbors.
The co-op sustains a thriving community through equitable economic relationships, positive environmental impacts, and inclusive practices grounded in cooperative values.
Offering sustainable, healthy, and organic food choices, the co-op was originally founded in 2009 in response to the lack of healthy food options in Logan Square. Now one of the best zero waste grocery stores in Chicago, this co-op would have: fresh produce, meat, dairy, cheese, organic food, local food.
Sugar Beet Co-op
Sugar Beet Food Co-op provides high quality natural foods, with a focus on locally sourced products produced in ecologically sound ways. The co-op is not only a favorited Chicago zero waste store with amazing bulk options, but provides a neighborhood hub for local, sustainable, healthy foods and a way of connecting farmers and producers to their customers.
Customers agree it’s excellent for high quality and organic meat, cheese, beer, wine, eggs and vegetarian options. Paleo and vegan options are also widely sold. If you’re not a local, not a worry there are other bulk stores online which you can peruse from the comfort of your couch.
To incentivize going zero waste, customers get a Beet Buck every time they bring a reusable bag, mug, or bulk container, which they can then put toward one of three different local charities.
They also encourage and provide space in their vestibule for customers to make donations to the local food pantry, Beyond Hunger (which they contribute to as well).
