Electric cargo bike service cuts carbon footprint and supports new small business
Going eco has been a wheely good idea for Mooch London owners Sandra O’Connell and Evelyn O’Flaherty as the pair have signed up to an electric cargo bike service.
“We’ve started to use this service primarily to help both Evelyn and myself from taking stock between our five greetings and gift shops ourselves,” Sandra told PG Buzz, “and we felt passionate about finding an eco-solution while supporting another small business.”
Having just opened their fifth shop, the move means they can have one stock room to service the original store at 90 Northfield Avenue, Ealing, which opened in 2016, Mooch Inside next door, plus 120 Pitshanger Lane nearby, 666 Fulham Road, and the new one in Barnes.
Sandra added: “The service we use has just one cyclist, Kevin at Urban City Couriers, at the moment as he’s a start-up – it would be cheaper for us to use a van service such as UPS or DHL, but this clogs up our roads. We just feel this service is ideal for our needs and fits with our ethos as a business.
“We keep most of our stock in one storeroom and this way we can replenish the shops – with the new shop, it means Kevin can do a loop from Ealing to Fulham and then on to Barnes. The cargo bike service means we can develop a good relationship and would be happy to dispatch jewellery and higher-priced items with him.”
And Kevin – who runs Urban City Couriers offering last-mile delivery services of parcels, packages, B2B, office and home removals – has been posting on his Instagram page about how he’s working closely with Mooch “delivering their stock movements across all five stores using cargo bicycles and trailers”.
Both Evelyn and Sandra use bikes themselves but are no longer delivering locally to customers as they’re too busy, and people are very happy to pop along to the shops for the click and collect service.
It’s the latest development for Mooch’s eco-friendly and sustainable practices where they recycle everything through a recycling service, use recyclable ribbons for giftwrapping customers’ purchases, and buy through companies committed reducing waste, as well as giving staff the train fare to travel between shops to encourage them to use public transport, plus installing more energy efficient bulbs with timed lights in the shops at night, and have moved fully away from plastic wrap for all card stock.
“We’re not a hug fan of sales,” Sandra said, “so we donate surplus unsold stock to local charities to raise money rather than throwing anything away, and we use surplus material from the Indian block printing to make our own jewellery pouches – we developed a relationship with a company in Jaipur this year while on a sourcing trip.
“As a small business we’re delighted to be using another small business and we feel happy that we are taking positive steps to reduce our carbon footprint by using this service.”
