Breaking through the Clouds: Sunshine Market & Refillery
By Rise Riyo, Community Outreach Manager, ZeroIn
In December 2023 local event organizers presented the San Marcos Holiday Festival gathering over one hundred North County San Diego vendors to sell baked goods, homemade crafts, ceramic, and health and wellness products near the campus of Cal State San Marcos. It was the first time my business took part in this event. Lately, the weather patterns were pushing atmospheric rivers across the Pacific to Southern California, but on the day of the event, the sun was brightly shining with a cool breeze flowing through the streets.
As always I normally walk around makers’ markets to check out the fine arts of local artisans and taste the yummy ethnic cuisines being offered. During a lull of passersby visiting our booth, I had my spouse, Joshua, watch the booth as I headed out into the street festival.
As I meandered from booth to booth, a wooden sidewalk signage caught my eye. I glanced back again to see in big letters, “Zero Waste” on the sign. I couldn’t believe it. Another zero waste store in North County San Diego??? Just a couple weeks back I had interviewed Katie Fletcher, owner of the Local Scoop, a zero waste store in Encinitas.
Zero waste, as defined by Wikipedia, is the practice of waste minimization. Attaining this principle goal entails completely overhauling local, regional, and global systems currently in place. Restructuring production and distribution systems reduces waste by moving away from materials and products made in mind for single-use. Educating the public and getting folks to engage in zero waste are steps to this overhaul.
I crossed the street weaving in and out among the crowds and eventually entered the busy booth. There at the back of the tent was Kattie Hayden, owner of Sunshine Market & Refillery, and her boyfriend Nick who was helping out. Hayden was busy talking with customers so I began asking Nick questions about the business. He mentioned to me that they did pop-ups and attended makers’ markets as well. Kattie finished speaking with the customer and turned her attention to me.
After introducing myself I mentioned Matt Suhay’s capstone project, ZeroIn, that came out of the Climatebase Fellowship, and that I and other fellows decided to continue working on it after the fellowship had ended. I asked if I could interview her about her business so she handed me her business card, and I made it a point to contact her soon.
However, the New Year greeted the region by experiencing a deluge of atmospheric rivers in California. A telltale sign of climate change. I had to cancel my appointment with Kattie as we dealt with flooding in the streets, power outages and even water leaks. We met up at her retail store a week later, and I must say that it was such a delightful chat with this inspiring young woman.
A native of Ohio, Kattie Hayden was always keen on having a store of her own since she was a little girl. What that entailed eventually evolved into her zero waste store, Sunshine Market & Refillery. Hayden became interested in practicing zero waste when she enrolled in a course titled “Introduction to Sustainability”. Hayden’s professor taught at Kent State University, and his wife wanted to form a college club on sustainability. So Kattie and a few other college students formed the club with Kattie voted in as secretary in the club’s first year and later became president in its second year. Katie stated that she always engaged in some form of zero waste since she was a child, but the club was an eye-opener for Kattie. The members took a trip to Rennes, France for a couple of weeks to observe a group that practiced zero waste living. From hanging drying clothes outside to growing organic food to riding the public transportation system, different levels of engagement of zero waste living was practiced by the group. Amazed at the possibilities of implementing such a lifestyle, Kattie understood that we could be engaging in a zero waste lifestyle here in the US.
After graduating from Kent State in 2019, Hayden moved to Southern California to be closer to her sister’s family in Poway. She landed a job, but soon after felt something was lacking. She spoke to her brother-in-law about creating a zero waste retail store and began working under his tutelage as his employee. Her brother-in-law had a lot of experience running successful businesses. He encouraged her to take the necessary steps to become a business owner so he became her mentor.
Through her brother-in-law’s guidance, she started gathering, filling out the necessary forms, and began meeting with Marisa Castenada who worked with small business owners at a local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in 2022. In one and a half years Kattie wrote up her business plan and proforma invoice, and was pre-approved in March 2023 for a CDC small business loan. Once she found an available retail space, she and Nick began work on it.
The space alone took a lot of time and money to renovate it. However, unforeseen costs cropped up. The former owner used it as a residence in addition to selling food. Layers of built-up grease and black mold within the walls meant ripping out parts of the walls and rebuilding it with new material. In hindsight, Kattie mentioned that one of the pain points was not asking for more money when applying for a loan. “You need working capital”, stated Hayden, “for costs not taken into account.” Overall, it took about two years from start to finish to open her brick-and-mortar space based in Oceanside, California. In September 2023 her doors opened to the public where she proudly cut the red ribbon in front of friends, family, and new customers.
Looking around the space one could see a lot of love went into its rebuilding and remodeling. A friend of Kattie who is an artist volunteered her time to paint gorgeous images on the ceiling-high store front windows and on the opposite side a wall displayed a beautiful image of a plant where the natural light brought out its hue of green. As you walk into the store, one breathes in an aromatic scent of eucalyptus and mint originating from glass jars filled with homemade shower steamers. A variety of organic bulk items are available in glass jars resting on a long soft green wooden countertop. Given that 50% of global plastic waste comes from packaging, Hayden also offers a variety of sustainable home goods such as toothpaste, bamboo toothbrushes, organic, compostable, non-plastic feminine care products, homemade soap bars, and bamboo soap dishes.
Hayden has regular customers who come in daily and those who are curious of what her store has to offer. She provides information to customers who have never heard of zero waste and meets the occasional customer who unknowingly practiced zero waste because “that’s how things were done back in the day”.
We discussed future trends in the retail industry and how zero waste fits in. Hayden believes that zero waste will start out slow but will pick up momentum given the changing attitudes towards climate change. Changing attitudes are indeed happening. With increasing atmospheric rivers hitting up against California’s coasts resulting in cliff erosion that is impacting multi-million dollar homes along the bluffs, affluent coastal communities are pushing local politicians to do something about the matter. It’s now in their backyard afterall. We both agreed that people will engage more in the practice of zero waste but it will take time. “You’ve got to pick your parts to be sustainable so you can sustain that lifestyle,” states Kattie.
Sunshine Market & Refillery is located at 3529 Cannon Rd #2D in the shopping market on the corner of Melrose Drive and Poinsettia Lane in Oceanside.
Website: https://sunshinemarketandrefillery.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunshinemarketandrefillery/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunshineMarketandRefillery