$1.$ Introduction

NU Grocery was Ontario's first "zero waste" grocery store, founded in $2017$ by $2$ immigrants to Canada to enable consumers in the Ottawa region to buy their groceries without excess packaging. More broadly, Vale$$rie Leloup, co$-$founder and CEO and her co$-$founder and business partner Sia Veeramani wanted to use their backgrounds in sustainability and business management, and their own efforts toward a zero waste lifestyle, to help consumers include their grocery purchases as part of a sustainable lifestyle while promoting the circular economy. This video provides an introduction to Ms$.$ Leloup and NU Grocery; and this recent article provides an overview of NU Grocery as well as the company's broader mission.

In October $2023$ NU Grocery had a thriving retail location in Ottawa, and a strong online business for zero waste lifestyle accessories as well as online grocery ordering with zero waste local delivery. Ms$.$ Leloup and her business partner had also built the firm into a thriving community$-$centred platform.

Ms$.$ Leloup: $"$We are definitely changing the game in an industry where the waste problem has long been ignored. The problem that brought NU Grocery to life is still very much here. The pollution crisis is worsening by the minute, exacerbated by an economic system designed to continuously extract resources for consumption and disposal. To address this issue, the concept of a 'circular economy' is gaining traction among policymakers and leaders, and NU Grocery is a true pioneer in this space." $($See Appendix $1$ for more information about waste, zero waste, and the circular economy.$)$

Nu Grocery was eager to grow: not only to grow sales, both retail and online, but also to grow that community of consumers and other stakeholders who believed in participating and sharing their belief in the circular economy and, more broadly, taking care of the environment toward a more sustainable future.

$2.$ NU Grocery's "Zero waste" grocery store

In August $2023$ Canada's federal government announced plans to require Canada's largest supermarket chains to develop and roll out plans to cut their plastic waste footprint, and that it was prepared to take further action if supermarkets did not respond accordingly$\mathrm{.}1$

NU Grocery was featured prominently in the CBC$\text{'}$s coverage of this announcement as an exemplar of the possibilities of reducing all packaging toward striving for zero waste.

NU Grocery's retail store was specifically designed for zero waste shopping. NU Grocery offered a very wide range of products in bulk, including 'the usual' products sold in bulk such as nuts, grains, and pasta but also condiments $($ketchup$,$ mustard$),$ prepared foods $($samosas$,$ kimchi$),$ ande package$-$ free produce from local farmers. For bulk purchases shoppers could bring their own containers, borrow refillable jars for $$1$ deposit, or purchase a variety of refillable containers at the store. Products which were not sold in bulk $-$ milk and yogurt, for example $---$ were sold in glass bottles with a $$2$ deposit. When the customer returned the bottle, the deposit was refunded and the bottle returned to the supplier for reuse, thus creating a closed zero waste loop.

Larger cities such as Montreal had a variety of zero waste stores: the first zero waste store in Canada opened in Montreal in $2017,$ followed soon after by a store in Vancouver. Gatineau's MultiservicesVert had also opened during that time. However, NU Grocery was the first and as of $2023$ still the only zero waste store in Ottawa with such a varied offering and community presence.

NU Grocery had opened its first store in the Hintonburg neighbourhood of Ottawa in $2017.$ At the same time the company also launched an online store for zero waste lifestyle accessories including products for self$-$care and food storage items which generated about $$2,000$ per month in sales. Given the steady increase in sales and a consistently positive cash flow after their first $6$ months in operation, in $2019$ NU Grocery opened a second location in the Old Ottawa East neighbourhood.

When the pandemic began in March $2020$ NU Grocery was in a solid financial position, with sales trending upward in both store locations and with cash reserves ready to invest in future growth.

Unlike many small retail businesses, NU Grocery had already established online operations. In April $2020$ the company was able to pivot quickly to boost online sales, adding a grocery category to the existing online store and a zero waste plastic$-$free curbside pickup and delivery service, enabling customers to continue to practice zero waste shopping while still respecting pandemic restrictions. Online sales reached as high as $$50,000$ per month during the pandemic.

But like many small retail businesses, with the evolving restrictions on shopping in person combined with the ban on common reusables such as grocery totes and