“A space full of ideas to take the first step to another world sustainable. And this, which seems like little, is a revolution”, reads the store's cover letter Fennel Bazaar and his missive could not be more accurate.
Located at number 5 of the Buenos Aires street in Valencia , is zero waste product store opened its doors in October 2020 with a true declaration of intent: to make us reflect on the type of consumption that we want to carry in our day to day and offer ourselves a large number of options for ensure that consumption is sustainable and the least damaging to the planet we live on. Said and done.
Behind her, part of the members of the Gil Marcovecchio family of entrepreneurs : Adriana (mother), Carlos (father), Mery (daughter) and Mili (daughter) –the other two remaining children are constantly rolling around the globe–; who settled in Spain after the corralito of Argentina in 2002 and have made the city of Valencia a whole home in which to put down roots. Hinojo Bazar is his most personal and inspiring project to date.
An oasis in the middle of this society charged with pollution, frenzy and noise. Make way for a new revolution, which has come to stay.
You will find it in the Ruzafa neighborhood.
THE PANDEMIC AS A GERM OF CREATIVE IDEAS
His is one of the many stories that emerged after confinement. young entrepreneurs who after a period of hiatus decided to change the course of their lives and enter a new business venture, in his case called Fennel Bazaar.
Adriana and Carlos, owners of a small Argentine restaurant in Cánovas for two decades and Mery and Mili with an Instagram account since 2015 called Hinojo where they shared healthy cooking recipes, in 2020 they formed the perfect tandem and they jumped into the pool without knowing if it was full. In the end it was, boy was it!
“Hinojo Bazar emerges in full quarantine. I think he caught the four of us in a moment of existential crisis. and when we stopped the rhythm we had, we were aware of it. A month after the quarantine was lifted we met with a lovely bass in ruzafa that we had to reform and a store to open. At first it came to mind a space of plants, but later we decided to go further”, tell Traveler.es, Mery and Mili.
"Everyone in the family was starting to make small changes in our daily habits, mostly trying to reduce the consumption of single-use products , and more specifically plastics. But almost everything we had to acquire on-line and there was a lot of offer that it was new for us that it was difficult for us to buy blindly. we needed a physical store where you can see them, touch them and ask questions. We believed that if we had that need, surely someone else had it too”, they add.
That's how it comes out Fennel Bazaar, of a personal need transferred to the rest of society. “For us, Hinojo is a space that helps you become aware that things can be done differently and that it is not so difficult”, the Gil Marcovecchio sisters say.
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The name stems from the Instagram account they founded in 2015 and this in turn originates from a town of Buenos Aires where part of the family of the protagonists of this story lived. “Since then that name began to be part of us, of our identity and our store could not be called otherwise”, they add.
It was one day in October prior to the official opening of the establishment when those responsible for Hinojo Bazar They received their first clientele. Still finalizing certain details, part of the store to set up and without a dataphone , seeing the blind raised, passers-by began to go inside.
“We really like to tell that story because it was all a bit of a coincidence. and see the welcome from the neighborhood It was something sensational. Some were people who they were going to eat with the family and needed a special gift , others entered out of simple curiosity... and that was when we saw ourselves with the store open!”, they indicate to Traveler.es
Mery and Mili, the owners of Hinojo.
A STORE WE ALL NEED
The first thing that catches your eye, even before setting foot on the ground floor of Calle Buenos Aires, is the charm that the place already exudes. With a typical Valencian soil that conquers anyone and that the family refused to cover up when working on the work and interior design of it. They did nothing more than enhance it to make it shine with all its splendor. “ We weren't going to touch the ground for the world ”, indicate excited Mery and Mili.
Once inside the store, the next thing that catches your eye is the endless number of plants that are located in all its corners. In the words of the owners: “ we believe that there is nothing better than bringing nature into our home to be aware that we must take care of it , so we have a lot of indoor plants and everything you need for their care, such as bulk substrate, ecological insecticides and pots”, they comment.
Then it's time to give way to a great selection of sustainable alternatives for almost any product that is usually used on a day-to-day basis, encompassing from cosmetic (mainly solid), cleaning products, intimate hygiene products, children's utensils, household items, containers and bottles, home accessories, decoration, furniture...
And in recent months they have not hesitated to add to the offer a wide collection of pieces by artisans and designers –mainly Valencians– to make themselves known, granting them a careful space in the premises.
“Hinojo is the store with the one we would have liked to meet as customers at the beginning of our change towards a more sustainable world”, they indicate from Hinojo Bazar.
Some of Hinojo's sustainable products.
THE FUTURE WILL BE SUSTAINABLE OR IT WILL NOT BE
And since they couldn't find it, they decided to create it. Because in the own words of the sisters of Hinojo Bazar: “The future will be sustainable or it will not be, especially if we want to continue living in the world as we know it and even more so if we want to improve it”, they sentence.
“We are at a time when we cannot continue pretending that nothing is happening, we have to take charge of what is happening, and not only for future generations, but for those of us who are here now. Hinojo is not just a store , when you leave here you think about what you can do in your day to day to generate less waste. And that is where the change begins”, they add.
Why not bet on one? solid toothpaste if we no longer want to buy the plastic tube with a paste that we don't even know what it is exactly? Why not swap tampons for cloth pads or a menstrual cup ? Why not replace the plastic straws of single use per glass straws?
The revolution begins in Hinojo Bazaar, here and now! And the best? For those people who do not reside in Valencia, they distribute –for the moment– to the entire Peninsula, Balearics, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy Y Netherlands.
NEIGHBORS OF FINOJO IN THE FASHIONABLE NEIGHBORHOOD
But we are not going to fool ourselves, if there is the possibility of physically going to the establishment, we should not miss out on this wonderful opportunity. After the visit, our Traveler recommendation is that have a good breakfast, lunch or snack in their neighbors Bluebell Coffee Roasters (Buenos Aires Street, 3).
If we turn to Cuba Street, options await us such as the newly opened Boutique hotel Yours Hotel (Cuba Street, 19) or the friends of the store Gnome (Cuba Street, 32) created by the interior design studio spacemask and where we find endless designer gifts of the most original.
Close the day with a beer, a chat and a good book in Ubik Cafe (Calle de Literato Azorín, 13) and why not end up having dinner at Kawori (Carles Cervera Street, 8), The little room (Padre III el Grande street) or Vermudez Bar (Calle de Sueca, 16), three of the star proposals offered by the Ruzafa neighbourhood.
The plan is guaranteed.