Meet Lyndsey Gantert of ZERO market in Stapleton and Sloan’s Lake

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndsey Gantert.

Lyndsey, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
ZERO market started as an idea stemmed from frustration at the state of our society and the massive amounts of single-use disposables being used for packaging in food, body care and household products. I was a high school science teacher at the time and was teaching my students the effects of plastics on the environment when I realized it was time to stop talking about it and do something. I had also watched a documentary on the amount of waste that we are creating around that time that really drove this need for change home. Living a zero-waste lifestyle should not be inconvenient in this disposable society that we are living in, so I put together a store that holds over 1200 products to help everyone live their life with less waste.

The idea was formed in 2013, and after a couple of years of research and development, scouting for a place to start and trying to navigate the retail world with such strict guidelines in packaging, 2015 brought us into the weekend community market scene at the Big Wonderful which led to a semi-permanent location in RiNo for six months with the Night Bazaar. From there, I was approached to be a part of a very cool project in Aurora, CO, that was still in the works. The Stanley Marketplace was a huge old airplane hangar that was being converted into a Colorado-based shopping and eating experience. It has been open since the end of 2016 and we were officially open for business in our permanent home mid-March of 2017. It’s been three years in the Stanley and now with a second location at Sloan’s Lake inside the Edgewater Public Marketplace. 

Has it been a smooth road?
Yes and no. Funding for a new business that is a relatively strange and an off-the-beaten-path concept is difficult to secure funding for, so I had to build it from nothing. Starting very slowly, very very small and slowly building up to what it is now. Another struggle was having to pave the way with suppliers and vendors when it came to their packaging and the way things were shipped (if they weren’t local). It was very difficult finding companies who were willing to change their protocols to align themselves more with what we were asking: no garbage. The other big one, learning how to start up, operate and maintain a successful business with zero business background, was difficult. There were many mistakes made, many lessons learned and a lot of doing things the hard way because I didn’t know any other way.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
ZERO market is a zero-waste store providing the community with alternatives to single-use disposable items, bulk refills of basically every home and body care product, ingredients to make all of your own products at home and also providing resources for people to educate themselves on living a more sustainable life and the reasoning behind it all. We are known for our selection of products to support a lower waste lifestyle all under one roof. The entire store is also 100% vegan with no animal products sold and no animal testing, completely cruelty-free. I am most proud of our store, ensuring that we are making this lifestyle accessible for folks of any socio-economic status by keeping costs as low as possible and also providing the knowledge to anyone who wants it through our community workshops offered on a sliding scale basis. We are always looking for ways to work with our community and frequently hold fundraisers for local non-profits, donating a portion of sales to organizations involved in activism across the board.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Denver is a fantastic city for all things eco-related, yet it also has a long way to go. We, as a city, currently have one of the worst landfill diversion rates in the country. The people of Denver and the surrounding region have good intentions and so much love for the planet, but there is so much work to be done when it comes to composting, recycling and reducing waste on in individual and commercial basis. This is why we are here. The city needs options and guidance on how we can fix this gap in the love we have for the planet and actually stepping up and taking action in our daily lives.

Contact Info:

• Address: ZERO market – Stanley Marketplace
  2501 Dallas St.
  Aurora, CO 80010
  ZERO market – Edgewater
  5505 W 20th Ave
  Edgewater, CO 80214
• Website: www.thezeromarket.com
• Phone: Stanley – 720 282 3489 Edgewater – 303 269 9902
• Email: info@thezeromarket.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thezeromarket
• Facebook: facebook.com/zerowastemarket
• Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/zero-market-aurora

Image Credit:
Sean Lande
Kim Denver
ZERO market

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.