Last week I was fortunate enough to spend a lovely hour or so at
2 Moon Trading Co. in
Walsall, West Midlands. I met with one of the co-owners - Georga, interviewed her, took some pictures of the shop, got given a couple of samples of the products to try for free and met her lovely puppy, Mylo!
First of all, let me tell you that this shop is a hidden little vegan gem! It is in a pretty mews, off a small side street behind the markets in Walsall, with grape vines growing over the archway. I would never have known it was there if it wasn't for the wonderful world of
Twitter where I connected with the owners.
2 Moon Trading Co. are a bath, body and skincare boutique, selling all vegan products like bathbombs, soaps, solid shampoos, bath truffles, massage bars, shower gels, body butters, foot scrubs, eye gels and body jewellery. Think
'Lush' but on a smaller independent scale, much cheaper and 100% vegan! Yay!
As you walk into the shop, you get the gorgeous smells of all of the bath bombs and your eyes are treated to a gorgeous array of pretty colours and packages, there is bunting around the walls and chalk displays and the owner's puppy to say hello to! What's not to love? They are open Monday-Saturday 10-6. But what's that, I hear you cry? You don't live anywhere near Walsall! Well, that's okay too because they have an online shop too at
2moontradingco.co.uk and they will post items out to your home (in the UK) within 3-5 days.
The best thing about 2 Moon Trading Co. though are the prices. The products start at £1.50 and the most expensive item in the entire shop is only £6 for a large tub of body butter! The bath bombs are around £2 each which makes them more of a regular treat than an expensive luxury item. They have a huge range of fragrances - around 15 different bath bombs and soaps, 8 different bath salts and 3 different body butters, for example.
I asked Georga about the store's origins. Georga and her business partner and co-owner Al live together in a house-share and started 2 Moon as a market stall, frequenting the
Black Country Markets of the West Midlands, as their popularity grew, they found these premises in Walsall and decided to set up their own shop - much warmer in the cold months than a market stall! The shop opened in April 2013 and is growing in popularity.
The owners, whilst not vegan themselves, have many vegan friends and they believe that all skin and body care should be cruelty-free and that everyone should be able to buy their products regardless of your beliefs, lifestyle choices, religion or financial status. So they decided to go for natural, vegan products at an affordable price so nobody has to be excluded from purchasing there. This is a refreshing stance for non-vegan business owners to take and let's hope others will realise that this is the best way to get more customers.
Georga is really passionate about what goes in to their products and works on the products from concept to testing and development and she checks all of the ingredients and their provenance before letting her wholesalers go ahead with a product to sell in their shop. She insists on strict ingredient checks and makes sure items are free from all animal testing as well as animal ingredients or by-products. They do not use palm oil in any of their products and their 'honey' products do not use real honey from bees, just honey fragrances - all vegan! If 2 Moon don't currently stock an item that you would like to buy, they will look into the feasibility of the product and try and develop the product with their manufacturers for you. This kind of service only comes from a small independent shop where the owners still have such control over their supply chain.
I asked Georga where the name came from and she told me that she and her business partner had been friends since childhood, and their nicknames for each other at school had always been 'Moon', so 2 Moon Trading Co was born from that early friendship! Aww!
So let's get to the important part of this review - the samples! I am a lucky vegan blogger and Georga gave me a gorgeous Bath Bomb and some Coconut Bay Body Butter to take home and sample :-) They were divine! It felt like a proper luxury treat rather than my usual boring bathtime! These are the kind of products I get bought as birthday gifts from friends and save for a special occasion but at these prices I might just be popping back next payday for a few 'weekly treat' baths! I also purchased a Pink Fizz shaving soap bar as a gift whilst I was there. It is a gorgeous bright pink and I know the recipient will love it, even though they are not vegan. That's the beauty of vegan body products, no one will complain that animals aren't in their bath products or that kittens and rabbits were not harmed in the testing of the products. Vegan beauty products should be the norm for everyone and 2 Moon Trading Co. are starting that revolution right here in the West Midlands!
So, please show some support for this small independent business by visiting the shop, purchasing online or just spreading the word. Too many small companies like this go under because people don't know they exist as they don't have marketing budgets of big chains like Lush or The Body Shop.
You can find 2 Moon Trading Co. at:
Unit 2, Guildhall Mews, Goodall Street, Walsall WS1 1QJ. 10am-6pm Mon-Sat.
You can connect with them online at:
Read previous Vegan Vox Reviews
here.
Until next time,
Big Vegan Love,
VVx
