Mabboo, the independent retailer specialising in clothing and zero-waste accessories made from bamboo, has opened a store in Bath.
The Bristol-based business, which operates a shop in that city’s Galleries retail centre, has taken over the former Timberland outlet in Southgate.
The 1,065 sq ft unit, pictured, stocks a range of T-shirts, watches, sunglasses and accessories ranging from toothbrushes to lunchboxes – all made from highly sustainable bamboo.
Mabboo founder Ed Cheney launched the business 10 years ago after discovering the unique properties of bamboo while teaching English in China.
The Mabboo brand is built on the fact that, as well as being the world’s most sustainable plant, bamboo can be used to produce super-soft clothing without chemical treatment as well as long-lasting products in its tough, wooden form.
The Bath opening comes shortly after Ed took the difficult decision to consolidate its Bristol operations post-Covid on The Galleries store, closing its outlet at Cargo, the shipping container retail scheme at Wapping Wharf, which it opened three years ago.
Ed, pictured, said: “We’ve spoiled our Bristol customers really over the past three years, having two stores to choose from, so it felt the right time to spread our sustainability message further afield.
“We settled on Bath for our new store within the Southgate shopping area. Pre-Covid a unit in such a prestigious area could have been out of our reach, but there’s new opportunities out there for unique retail businesses that may not have previously existed.”
The Bath opening also comes as the firm marks 10 years since Ed sold his first bamboo T-shirt from a stall at the Tobacco Factory market in South Bristol.
The business currently employs eight staff and, with the help of government grants and by furloughing staff till the stores reopened, it emerged from lockdown without any job losses.
It is now hoping to recruit several staff members for the new Bath store, including through the government’s Kickstart scheme for unemployed 16-24 year olds.
