Grey Lynn gets its own dedicated vegan shop.
Never heard of it? Well, let me tell you a story. About 10 years ago, animal rights organisation SAFE started The Cruelty Free Shop in Karangahape Road’s historic St Kevin’s Arcade, a tiny outlet for vegan goods of all stripes, from vegan footwear to vegan ‘cheese’.
Possibly sensing that it was best to pour their resources into dissemination of information about animal cruelty and education about veganism, five years ago they sold The Cruelty Free Shop to Jill Peterson and her two adult children, Hannah and Nathan Creek, all of whom are SAFE supporters with a keen interest in animal welfare and veganism.
Over the next five years, they concentrated on making available (which often meant importation) many vegan products that simply weren’t available in New Zealand, and developing the website as a go-to for a vast range of goods for otherwise deprived vegans around the country.
Then, they hit a wall. Jill explains that while the inner city location was great for attracting international visitors, their experience with the new owners of St Kevin’s forced them to rethink. “The new owner alienated a lot of the long-standing businesses,” says Jill. “We stuck it out for nearly a year, but it wasn’t a happy experience for us or our customers. The move to Grey Lynn was sudden and spontaneous, but we absolutely love it. The Grey Lynn community have really made us welcome. And we’re just around the corner from the famous Tart bakery!”
While some vegan brands (Angel Foods stands out in this category) don’t play on the explicit vegan angle, by changing the name of their shop from The Cruelty Free Shop to The Vegan Shop, Jill is going straight for the jugular.
While the Grey Lynn Village hosts the shop front, the website and warehouse (based in Morningside) has a much more extensive range of wares, dictated simply by floor space. Which doesn’t, of course, mean that The Vegan Shop is lacking in variety. “We have the biggest range of vegan dairy goods, butters and cheeses in New Zealand,” says Jill. “People often say that giving up cheese was the hardest thing for them, so we have made a point of filling that gap.”
She says that a good percentage of their customers aren’t vegan, but have children with allergies, and love the fact that they can get treats for their kids (especially at Easter and Christmas) that aren’t available in supermarkets. And vegans love knowing that for once, they don’t have to scrutinise food labels for those horrid animal products.
“We have a very powerful farming industry here who work hard to encourage New Zealanders to believe in the benefits of meat and dairy,” says Jill, “but people are starting to wake up to the realities of farming cruelty, as well as how detrimental animal products can be to their health.” (GARY STEEL)
The Vegan Shop can be found at 143 Williamson Avenue, Grey Lynn.
Gary Steel is an Auckland-based journalist who runs online vegetarian resource
www.doctorfeelgood.co.nz He can be contacted via beautmusic@gmail.com