Don’t mention cucumbers to Kim Bradshaw. She can’t find ones to buy that aren’t wrapped in plastic. Apart from that she’s virtually plastic free in her home, it’s a subject close to her heart and one she turned into a business during lockdown. Although still a fledgling enterprise – she opened her shop Zero Pantry in Kirkby Lonsdale in August – it’s made eight times more money than she expected in its first year.

The small shop specialises in selling food, toiletries and cleaning goods - without plastic packaging. Shoppers have the option of bringing in their own bottles and tubs or using her brown paper bags or purpose made bottles which can be reused “There is not any business expertise, it all down to my passion,” she says.

“I watched a BBC documentary on cotton and how thirsty it is as a plant and then they converted it into drinking water. It shocked me and I have not bought any clothes for four years,” she says, “There’s no need to have the amount of clothes we have. Then I thought about going plastic free in the bathroom and I did. Then I thought about going plastic free in the kitchen and I struggled. There was nowhere I could buy food that was not wrapped in plastic. That really struck home.”

During the first lockdown last year, she was on furlough from her job as a community sports coordinator at nearly Queen Elizabeth School, when the two shop units in Kirkby Lonsdale became available and she took the plunge. “It had to be affordable and it had to be accessible,” she says.

It’s something Kim, a mother of two, had wanted to do for more than a decade. A New Zealander, Kim arrived in the UK in 1993 as part of a world trip. She visited friends in Kirkby Lonsdale, met her future husband Craig on the first night and 29 years later is still living in the town on the Cumbrian border which is regularly named as one of the top places to live in the North West. “This is what supermarkets are like in New Zealand,” she says, proudly looking around her shop. “It’s the way we shop cheaply in New Zealand.”

She stocks goods from suppliers as local as possible; the Wensleydale Sheep Milk soaps have an even closer connection as the milk is made from sheep at Mansergh Hall where her son Alfie milks them every day.

Although having been in business less than a year she’s already expanded. In December she opened her second shop in Sedbergh.

“It’s about making it accessible, particularly during lockdown when people could not leave their own towns. Ideally, I would like to see a zero waste shop in every town. It was not in the plan to open another shop but the shop became available… we had two weeks beforehand to get it all set up.” She’s managed to open both shops and stock them from a business Start-Up loan of £21,000 and also £10,000 of her own savings. The majority of the money was spent on recyclable gravity bins and electronic scales and tills.

It’s clear that it’s been a success. “I thought I would take £10,000 in my first year but I have taken £85,000! It’s more than I was ever expecting,” she says.

Her most popular ranges, apart from the cleaning products sourced from Keighley, and the natural deodorants, are her recipe packs - particularly the soup ones and the Christmas cakes. “I did a split pea soup pack, simply add eight cups of water and it’s delicious. I also made up 10 Christmas cake packs, all the dry ingredients for £10 including fruits pre-soaked in brandy. We sold over 200!” The Christmas cake packs go back on sale in early October.

Her customers tend to be in their forties and older although Kim loves it when children are brought into the shop and get involved weighing out the products. She has identified it’s not a quick way to shop and is looking at ways of helping people who are time-short, perhaps by offering a drop and collect service where the shopping list is dropped off and Kim and her team measure out everything for the customer.

The business is not only reducing plastic waste – in June alone she estimates more than 300 plastic bottles were reused in the two shops - but says because customers can buy exactly what they need it reduces food waste too.

“I have only traded during Covid times so it’s very unpredictable at the moment,” she says. Despite the uncertainty she has big plans. “There’s so many plans, I would love to franchise. People come in here and say they wish there was a shop like this near them. It’s important that towns have this, not just in the cities. I’d like to go mobile too, go up to Hawes and Appleby and Kirkby Stephen. My husband keeps pulling the reins in, he says I haven’t even traded for one year yet. I think this is a great business, not because it’s mine but because of the ethos. People want to do this. If we do not do something now about our carbon footprint…”

She says despite her best efforts she is not 100% plastic free. “Have you tried to get a cucumber which is not wrapped in plastic?” she asks. She says going plastic free can be daunting, but making one change or one swap at a time is a great way to start.

Kim splits her time between the two shops and employs six part-time staff. When she returns to her school job next month she plans to spend one day in each shop going forward. Zero Pantry has obviously hit a nerve. When she set up the business she estimated she would take £10,000 in the first year. She took that in the first month.