Business Flowing Well at Bottled Water Store

Rebecca Penty, National Post

Two Toronto entrepreneurs, bucking the growing backlash against bottled water, have opened Toronto's first store devoted to the product and say business could not be better.

"We're through the moon over the response and we've been pleasantly surprised with the smaller restaurants and larger hotels that have contacted us and would like to do business with us," said Tracey Robert, co-owner of The WaterShoppe, at 337 Danforth Ave.

The Greektown emporium opened on July 7 and since then, Ms. Robert and co-owner Lisa Gnat have built up a stock of 47 brands to satisfy customers looking for health benefits or a stylish bottle of aqua for the dinner table.

The merchants were prepared for frowns from eco-conscious critics at the outset and took a number of steps to green their business.

"First of all, the majority of the products we sell are glass," Ms. Gnat said, adding, "We do always put a friendly reminder to people to recycle and there's a recycling bin in the store."

The owners have purchased cups for their drink bar made from corn-based material, touting their low environmental impact.

But one Toronto environmentalist said the city's tap water is clean, and what this store is doing is wasteful.

"The most environmentally friendly water comes from your tap. Recycling is better but it's an unnecessary container," said Franz Hartmann, executive director for the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

"This isn't about packaging, it's about the very nature of the product," he said.

Ms. Gnat argues bottled waters have different tastes and may offer some health benefits.

The WaterShoppe sells water imported from countries such as South Africa, Japan, and Ireland.

"Anyone who says 'water is water' is mistaken," she said, explaining the owners have tailored their merchandise according to customer demands.

"We have plastic bottles because customers are asking for them," Ms. Robert said. Some customers are requesting water with a higher pH, claiming this keeps the body more alkaline to ward off disease. Ms. Robert say they will soon carry pH strips a customer can purchase to test their body's pH with a swab of the tongue.

"One gentleman comes in and buys the Fiji and washes his face with it," Ms. Gnat said, explaining the higher content of silica in that brand is said to improve the condition of skin, nails and hair.

Others have asked for the brand Bling H20, $65 in-store, which comes in a bottle studded with Swarovski crystals. The cheapest water is Castello, at $1.25 a bottle.

The shop recently signed on to the concept of carbon offsetting through the not-for-profit Tree Canada, which will plant trees according to the amount of greenhouse gases the business puts in the air.

"We are doing carbon footprinting. This is an issue and we need to do something about it," Ms. Gnat said.

Mr. Hartmann said planting trees is only a Band-Aid solution.

"When you buy bottled water, there has been a significant amount of greenhouse gases going into the bottle and the trucks driving along the 401 to transport it," he said.

Ms. Robert argued any other retailer would be contributing greenhouse gases through imports: "We're all importing. Nobody picks on wine companies for importing wine."

Resource: National Post