I Own The Waste Not Shop. But Not For Long!

Hi my name is Marilla Gonzalez and I own The Waste Not Shop..but that's about to change.

Back in December of 2018, we did our first sales under the Waste Not name. Little did we know how far this journey would take us in such a short time. We started our instagram in April of 2019, and worked diligently with HWS to craft a business plan to open a full on storefront in Geneva. In August of 2019 we opened our store front.

In February of 2020, we launched our website. Then the pandemic hit. We scrambled to apply for a PPP loan, but because of the timing of when we opened and how little money we were making just starting out, we received practically nothing. We were prepared to close if it came to that, but because of the grocery focus of our business, we were deemed essential. In spite of our worst fears, our #wastenotwarriors stepped up. We saw a level of love and support from our little community that couldn't have dreamed of. This allowed us to survive the worst of the pandemic and come into 2021 ready to grow. We hired our first full time employee, we worked with a couple of excellent e-commerce consultants to revamp our website, and we were on top of the world.

Then, we received a letter that flipped everything upside down. We received a Cease and Desist letter from a shop similar to ours stating that our name infringed upon their federal trademark registration, and that we would need to change our name or they would be forced to take legal action to protect their rights. While we believe our sales stretching back to December of 2018 give us rights to our name in our area, we cannot justify the cost of a legal battle. We have tried everything in our power to come to an agreement where both brands can co-exist, but the response remained the same. In the spirit of staying focused and sticking to our mission of supporting women owned businesses like ours, we have decided to change our name to allow both businesses to flourish unimpeded.

Between legal costs, rebranding all our merch, paper work, changing every sign, sticker, marketing and more, this undertaking will end up costing us most of the income we've earned this year, but if our community can support us through a pandemic, we're confident we can get through this together too.

As we take on this unexpected adventure we will keep everyone posted with updates regarding our future name and how we will be navigating going forward. In the meantime please share our news far and wide. We are grateful for every purchase, donation, share, prayer, and good vibe. We’ve built this business on positivity and the idea that small acts make a difference and that’s what we will continue to do for as long as we’re here.