Where it all started...

The General Store was born in March 2020 while our family was in hard lockdown in Poland.  The idea was to create a store that sells the bare necessities, eco minimalism if you like.  We wanted to live and shop in a more conscious way in our town, Knysna. We finally found the perfect location for our store in The Foundation. The General Store takes you back to an era before everything was packaged in plastic and sold by weight.  

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We started with unpackaged grains, flours and oils and quickly grew to include sustainable options for all areas in life.  We have over 30 suppliers and work hard to make sure our prices stay competitive.  Reducing your carbon footprint should be available to everyone.

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A Sustainable lifestyle isn’t black and white and we are still learning and growing daily.  We do aim to reduce unnecessary plastic packaging.  We prefer suppliers that use local materials, recycles their production waste, use non-toxic ingredients and gives back to the environment.  The idea of living with a jar of waste for year isn’t realistic for most of us.  We like to encourage people to try tiny swaps that they can sustain daily.  

We believe that everyone can make a positive impact and even small changes can make a big difference.  Helping our customers do the best they can to live a greener lifestyle has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.