4 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Milieu Market refills clean need
Wolseley's newest bar is self-serve. However, ales and stouts don't gush from its taps. Laundry detergent, dish soap and fabric softener flow out.
Milieu Market opened its first Winnipeg storefront over August long weekend. It's a sharp turn from the United States expansion owner Jules Plett had envisioned.
'We needed to focus on staying in Canada,' Plett said, recalling early-2025 tariff threats from our southern neighbour.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Founder Jules Plett at Milieu Market, a refill station for health and wellness products in Wolseley which opened over the weekend. The store got its start in Steinbach four years ago, and this is the first Winnipeg location.
Instead of unrolling her company's lotions and soaps in the U.S., she's filled dispensable jugs and stocked 992 Portage Ave.
Free containers are stacked in one corner. One-gallon bottles of hand sanitizer gel and body wash sit on shelves near natural deodorants and skincare products.
Plett, 28, began her refill business four years ago. She'd begun using refill stations while travelling in an effort to reduce waste; upon returning to Steinbach during the COVID-19 pandemic, she found her options limited.
Milieu Market's first storefront appeared in Steinbach. It now has a refill station in Altona Mall. Wolseley holds the third shop, with spouts for household products protruding from a refill bar.
'I'm just excited to be here,' Plett said.
U.S. President Donald Trump's warnings kept her focused on Canada; the spring closure of Planet Pantry, a similar business at The Forks, led her to see a gap in the Winnipeg market.
(Another refill company, Refill Market, operates at 634 Notre Dame Ave.)
Milieu Market sold wares at the Wolseley Farmers Market in past years.
'The people, the community in this area, they're just so passionate about what I'm doing,' Plett said. 'I want to be closest to where the customers are.'
So when the 900-sq.-ft. space opened — with a kitchenette in the back for soap making — Plett leapt.
Nearly all the items inside Milieu Market are Canadian-made. Plett launched her in-house brand, Greenland and Co., in 2022.
She began selling Greenland and Co. shampoo and conditioner bars on Aug. 1, in part, because U.S. products have become too costly.
'Tariffs are bouncing on and off, but not for personal care,' Plett relayed.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Plett aims to open more refill shops, or help others to do so, to help reduce waste and pass the savings on to customers.
She'd been working with a formulator for roughly a year on shampoo and conditioner bars. She hadn't found a Canadian product she loved, she said, and the U.S. brand she stocks has since increased in price through Canadian counter-tariffs.
What was a roughly $42 bar has jumped to a cost of $50.
'We didn't want to cut them from our line, but it did get really expensive,' Plett said, noting she hasn't added the full 25 per cent cost increase to the customer price.
Prism Kombucha joins the local businesses represented within Milieu Market. It has its own refill station in a corner.
'We're excited to be part of Milieu Market,' said co-owner Colin Rémillard. 'It's an awesome way to have people consuming more kombucha… but it's also reducing packaging.'
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Milieu Market is a welcome addition to the Portage Avenue strip, said Heidi Bao, an employee at neighbour business Brite Agencies.
'It makes more convenience for the community,' Bao said.
Plett aims to open more refill shops — either her own or by helping others.
'Any way we can do that, that's definitely my goal,' she said.
Gabrielle PichéReporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
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