Ojai and Topanga Canyon are often compared for their arty and colorful vibes. That includes the “crunch factor,” a term inspired by homemade granola and referring to avoiding commercial products and excess packaging in the spirit of environmental awareness.
“You see it in cafés. You see it in the people,” says Hayley Magrini, who recently opened a refill store in Ojai where customers can purchase wellness and cleaning products in bulk using refillable containers, rather than adding to the trash flow. “Households in Ojai will do more things that aren’t convenient,” says Magrini, who runs a similar store in Topanga, where she lives. “All my friends would call me ‘crunchy!’”
The new Ojai store offers an array of lotions and soaps that can be stored in reusable containers and refilled. Magrini says she needed to open a second store so that she could take advantage of economies of scale when purchasing her products, many of which come in 55-gallon drums.
“My plan was to open one more store. But retail is really hard right now,” she says, adding that a third store is not on the immediate horizon. “It’s not like we rake in the dough. I’m looking for ways to make it affordable, but to not become a chain. We want to keep it small, super local and special.”
Magrini says that she wouldn’t have been able to even contemplate another store if it weren’t for the people she’s hired. “I have really good workers who can take responsibility. I am so grateful!”
At the Ojai store, which is located next to the skate park and across from Sea Fresh on Ojai Avenue, employee Kae Adams says business is slowly picking up. “I’m from Ojai and it’s a lot tougher when you’re not in the Arcade,” says Adams between waiting on customers and filling small bottles with lotions.
Magrini says finding just the right products takes thought and effort. “I do a lot of work sourcing. I have to test it. Then I have customers try it,” she says, adding that she wants to follow the same ethos about minimal packaging in purchasing that she applies to her stores’ products. “I originally went to farmers’ markets. I would use their products a lot if a company is willing to take my clean containers back to refill because it shows me they are truly trying to reduce waste.”
She says that she avoids plastics and other unnecessary packaging as much as possible at home because she wants to try to leave a clean planet for her children, daughter Charlie, 3, and son Ozzy, 4 months. “As a mom of young children I can now empathize better with why some people can’t do these extra less-convenient actions [to reduce waste]. I don’t do as much as I first did when I was so driven. But with small children everything has to be plastic-free. Children put everything in their mouths,” she says, adding, “it is about trying and not perfection.”
And while Magrini is busy recycling and composting, she says, husband Adam Houtz, a lawyer, will rein in her more extreme impulses.
“It’s good. It challenges me in that way. I can get very extreme. He lets me know when I should take a break,” says Magrini, who says some environmental issues can’t be ignored. “He is the ultimate test of all my crunchy ways as he wants products to be just as effective as the big-boxstore offerings.”
“You can’t argue about plastics in the ocean or in landfills. Whatever side [of the political spectrum] you’re on, everybody has to agree that plastic waste is not good for the planet,” she says, explaining that she was in fashion marketing before embarking on refill stores.
It was during a trip to Bali that she experienced the consequences of poor waste management that has led to plastics littered everywhere. “I got to see all of the consumer waste from other countries. The streets are filled with toxic waste. It’s coming from products from our companies,” she says.
Located at 120 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd. #100, Topanga, and 606 E. Ojai Ave, Ojai. For information and a menu of products, visit, TheWellRefill.com or on Instagram at @thewellrefill.
