You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference — and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make
– Jane Goodall
Our Story
Concept and Explorations
In 2007, a group of us in Chennai got together at the invitation of Sangeetha Sriram and discussed the need for a community space to explore lifestyle changes, ideas and practices – as a response to the crises of eroding human connections and environmental degradation. We envisioned a space where people would engage in deep conversations and practice different activities (like gardening, spinning, weaving, cooking). We spent quite some time understanding the work of existing organizations and consulted people with experience on related topics. We also conceptualized the idea of a shop, forming the nucleus of a physical space which would serve as a community centre.
Launch and Millet Banquet
Organic food became the central theme of our discussions, and Sangeetha introduced revival of millets as an initial focus. Many of these millets were previously unknown to us and we started experimenting with including them into our regular diet.
We decided to have a launch of our yet-to-be-named organisation with a millet-based banquet and sale. There was an overwhelming response at this function held in February, 2008, with about 300-350 people enjoying the seven-course millet-based meal. Women farmers from Deccan Development Society came all the way from Telengana to support this event.
Volunteer-run Bazaars
At the launch, a management professor-farmer spontaneously invited our group to conduct weekly bazaars at the garage of his residence in Kalakshetra Colony, Chennai. And reStore came into being. By then we had grown to around 10 core members, and started traveling to meet and develop relationships with more farmers and organizations supporting small farmers. A home for aged women gave us storage space and the elderly residents helped clean our grains.
Our Saturday bazaars featured fresh produce and a limited range of provisions packed in two layers of paper! Our group got busy from early in the morning, receiving, sorting and cleaning the vegetables from organic producers.
The bazaars were lively affairs with lots of people volunteering and spontaneous friendships forming. After a few months, we recruited our first paid employee, but for at least three years more the twice-weekly bazaars were dependent on volunteers taking turns to weigh, bill, and pack the produce. More importantly, to interact with the community and share information about the products, farmers, etc.
Becoming an Organization and Store
When a formal entity was established (registered as a company), there was no question in the minds of the core team that it would run without personal profit to those who started or invested money in it. This was with a view to encouraging participation from community members as volunteers — whether they could give ideas, time, donations of software, equipment or work at the bazaars. A no-frills shop was set up with reused, donated furniture, computers, and shelving, a quick Excel serving as a billing software and so on. The only new equipment purchased in the first year was weighing scales, and storage bins!
reStore was located at a rented space in Adyar between 2008-13. Volunteers continued to manage the store and bazaars. Over a period of time, more of the operational work was transitioned to paid staff, to bring about continuity and consistency.
We developed a set of product principles and built up the range of organic staples. We worked closely with producers to improve the quality of processing and bring in more traditional rice varieties. In addition, preventing plastic packaging waste and bulk dispensing was an important priority. We also learned a great deal about preventing pest infestation by fumigation with herbs, and grain maintenance.
Over the years, we have moved from strength to strength, faced many challenges with respect to packaging, price setting, certification and functioning as an open and non-hierarchical group.
Organic Retail as a Livelihood
In the next phase, our store transitioned to being a livelihood opportunity rather than a volunteer organization, with employees slowly taking over most operations. Managing the finances, setting directions, and the ethos of the store came to be overseen by a small group of advisors and directors, working pro-bono. Our staff members come from economically difficult backgrounds and were in search of a livelihood opportunity that is also in line with their values. As a workplace reStore is committed to:
professional and personal growth
a decent living wage, support for medical expenses, and long-term savings
profit-sharing with the staff
a collaborative transparent decision-making style rather than hierarchical power structures
Model for Retail & Distribution
Due to requests from many young enthusiasts interested in developing organic stores with principles similar to that of reStore, Organic Farmer’s Market was set up by Ananthoo in early 2014, with central sourcing and member-shops working as a collective. OFM (ofmtn.in) is now a well-known group of organic outlets.
Community Activities
Some of the major initiatives of reStore and its volunteers are:
Terrace /urban gardening / community gardens.
Explorations with families engaged in natural learning and home-schooling.
Between 2013-15 we supported several editions of Back to the Land Unconferences held in and around Chennai.
Involvement in the larger organic movement.
Sangeetha and Ananthoo were closely involved with the campaign against Bt-brinjal and the creation of the Safe Food Alliance in TN.
Ananthoo’s participation in the Kisan Swaraj Yatra with a core role in ASHA deepened reStore’s engagement in the organic movement.
Ongoing: Workshops, Talks, Interactions and Film-screenings have been hosted through the years on the climate crisis, gardening, composting, waste management, upcycling, art & craft, events of the Auroville festival in Chennai (2015), cooking, health & nutrition, menstruation, GMOs in food, wildlife and other topics.
