A YouTube video inspired Emma Hess to create her dream business. The video is about a couple that lived in Los Angeles, Ca. that purchased a van and turned it into a mobile refillery for soaps.
Going into the initial lockdown in March 2020, Hess started to question what she was really meant to do. A May 2020 graduate from the University of Michigan’s sociology program, Hess intended to further her education through a Masters in social work — also through the University of Michigan. The YouTube video inspired Hess; she was fascinated by the idea, and had a lot of time on her hands. She decided to make her inspiration into reality, and Bring Your Own Container Company — better known as BYOC Co. — was born. Now, BYOC Co. sells all forms of reusable products, its most popular being refillable soaps, but it took Hess over a year to get to the storefront she has now.
Hess decided to start and grow her business through pop-ups. She reached out to people via Facebook, asking for everything from tents and tables to old growlers (large glass bottles that come from breweries) to hold product from local businesses. 15-year-old tablecloths were pulled out of storage, and she even collected pallets to build displays.
“That’s how [BYOC Co.] came together,” Hess said. “It was very random, but I wanted to be thoughtful and intentional on how we acquired things because that’s the point, right? Zero waste is using what you already have or amplifying and upcycling those things.”
On Aug. 8, 2020, BYOC Co. held its first-ever pop-up at Breathe Yoga in Chelsea, Mich., Hess’s hometown.
After the first pop-up, Hess received so much positive feedback that she knew BYOC Co. was something worth pursuing. Throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall, small businesses all over Southeast Michigan hosted Hess and her products. She popped up at many places around the area, including Vertex Coffee Roasters in Ann Arbor, Dexter Cider Mill in Dexter and The Rust Belt Market in Ferndale.
Hess thinks that pop-ups are the reason BYOC Co. is so successful. After eight months, she’d managed to build a regular customer base and network with other small businesses. Hess didn’t study business or sustainability, so other small business owners became people she could rely on for advice.
In the winter of 2021, business for BYOC Co. slowed down — nobody wanted to come to their staple outdoor pop-ups. Hess was starting to feel a lot of anxiety over not making sales. Her family started to encourage her to look at rental spaces in the area, and to turn BYOC Co. into a real, permanent store.
Hess began looking at spaces immediately, and her current space is one of the first she saw. She chose it because it was a unique space: underground, close to college students, and on Liberty Street. The price was right, and Hess signed the lease in early March.
Hess gave herself five weeks to pull the space together; she couldn’t afford to be paying rent without making sales. She painted the walls sage green, dug up the carpeted floor and spent days sanding the glue away, put in a few chalkboard walls for product information and made tables out of doors from a Livonia warehouse that otherwise would’ve been thrown out.
24 hours before the BYOC Co.’s soft opening in mid-April, Hess and her parents moved all of the products in. Hess credits her parents, saying she wouldn’t be able to start her business without them. They helped her every step of the way, from building things in the shop to storing boxes upon boxes of products in their home. On the first day of the soft opening, her parents were even there to work the checkout counter. The day was so hectic that they actually checked out the first customer, though Hess wishes she had been able to.
At BYOC Co., Hess sells refillable products: all varieties of laundry products, cleaners, personal hygiene products — some in her original growlers. She sells lots of physical products as well, like toothbrushes, pet products, and ecofriendly candles. Most important to Hess is that virtually all of her products are locally sourced and from small businesses. Hess’s skincare products come from Holland, Mich.; her soaps from Bubble Babes in Ann Arbor; her glass straws from Milford, Mich. and pet toys from Traverse City.
“Not only is [sourcing from small businesses] fun and people love to shop locally, but it means I can fi- nancially support other small businesses,” Hess said. “I love that I’m getting to have personal relationships with these people, because they actually deliver direct- ly into the store.”
Aside from buying from small businesses, Hess hosts many of them in-store, as well as in other events. Hess has hosted plant swaps, clothing swaps and book swaps with the Ann Arbor area community. Many small businesses come in to sell their products, like the Botanical Bakeshop and Butterfly Effect Jewelry. Hess also makes a point of not charging those businesses. “My best relationships with small business owners are with ones that didn’t charge me to come in and pop up at their business,” said Hess. “So I’ve never charged people to come into the space and sell because we’re all just trying to grow. Hopefully it opens up a couple other doors for other businesses to reach out to them.”
Hess’s key goal with starting BYOC Co. was to encourage people to be low-waste. She is the first to acknowledge that without the store, she herself wouldn’t be as low-waste as she is now. Hess’s first personal swap was a shampoo bar, which is now her favorite product. She can’t always buy everything with her low-waste goals in mind, like organic foods that come unpackaged.
“I do what I can and I think that’s what I want people to get out of this store,” said Hess. “This isn’t a place where if you’re not perfect [with being low-waste] then you can’t come.”
She also directly encourages her customers to be mindful of what they already have at home.
“When people come in, I always tell them to use up what they have at home, and then make this new purchase,” Hess said. “You have a shampoo bottle at home? Use that up first. Some people are like, ‘That is the worst business model ever, you’re telling them not to buy?’ But that’s just how deeply rooted the values have to be in order to be doing this ethically.”
Hess says her “work” doesn’t even feel like work. She knows she’s doing good for her community, benefiting everyone from local families to college students on campus. One of the biggest compliments she receives are inquiries about employment opportunities. Hess prides herself on being a place people want to work. She finds more fulfillment from BYOC Co. than she ever thought possible. Hess wants to leave her community with one crucial note.
“As someone who wasn’t able to afford making all of these swaps right out of the gate, I just want people to take away from us that you just have to do what you can,” Hess said. “It doesn’t even mean spending money at [BYOC Co.], it means doing what you can at home. It just takes a little bit of effort, and being willing to go one by one.”