Shiv Misra’s idea of responsible retailing starts with a different question: what if the shop itself could be designed around people and the planet?
Kindly began in Brighton in 2019, when Misra opened his first concept store in Seven Dials after becoming frustrated by the amount of plastic involved in mainstream grocery shopping. Traditional refill shops, he felt, could be messy, slow and cumbersome. His ambition was to prove that sustainable shopping could offer the speed, choice and convenience of a modern high-street grocer.
The business has since expanded to a second location which is a 3,000sq ft flagship at York Place. As a fully independent retailer, Kindly does not belong to a symbol group, allowing Misra to retain control over its range and values.
The store carries more than 2,000 plant-based, plastic-free grocery lines alongside fresh produce, with its own ‘Refill OS’ weight-tracking software and a ‘Frictionless Refill’ system.
The latter is designed to remove one of the traditional barriers to refill shopping. Sustainability Ambassadors handle the physical weighing and refilling for customers, allowing the process to run at conventional checkout speeds. Customers pay only for the quantity they need, with weight-based pricing intended to reduce household waste while helping shoppers manage their spending.
But the responsible-retailing philosophy extends to the people working at Kindly. Misra says the business made the decision to stop selling alcohol across its network in response to retail crime and shop-floor tension, while it has never sold tobacco. The move, he says, was designed to prioritise the safety and peace of mind of his team of 26.
Kindly also has a long-term partnership with Team Domenica, providing retail training and job placements for young adults with learning disabilities. For Misra, inclusivity is not an add-on but part of what a responsible employer should look like.
The environmental case is equally central. The nomination reports that the business has diverted more than 360,000 single-use plastic units from landfill, replaced 219,000 litres of high-carbon dairy milk and saved 66 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
Then there is the ‘66p Rule’. Kindly sources from more than 40 regional micro-brands and local producers, with the business saying 66p of every £1 spent stays within the local economy. It turns sustainability into an economic proposition as well as an environmental one.
Misra’s approach therefore goes beyond the conventional definition of responsible retailing. It encompasses how products are sourced, how they are sold, how waste is reduced, how employees are supported and how the business interacts with its local economy.
Kindly’s proposition is, ultimately, that doing the right thing does not have to mean doing business differently. It can be the business model itself.