It's a story that originated in a trip around the world and turned the life of a young family man, Sven Binner, and his wife upside down. The immense amount of packaging waste that accumulates everywhere on earth shook the couple up and led to Binner realizing his dream in 2019: the Binnes Unverpackt-Laden in Dresden.
The principle of the store is simple but effective: sustainability is the focus, and the products are designed to be affordable for everyone. Whether cheese or curd, everything can be purchased in the desired quantity, and without superfluous packaging. The store concept is well thought out in every respect, so there is a scale that outputs an adhesive label with the empty weight, which can be stuck on the empty containers.
The unpackaged store in Dresden Striesen offers more than just food: The assortment ranges from fresh fruits and vegetables from the region and from southern Spain, to household cleaning and hygiene products, to a variety of containers. A special service is diaper advice. Parents who want to do without disposable diapers can get expert advice here.
But not only the packaging-free shopping is attractive here. The store also has its own promotion days, such as "Fruit Day" on Tuesdays, when the previous week's fruit is sold at 10 percent off, or "Fresh Day" on Wednesdays, when fresh vegetables and farm milk from the region are delivered.
However, this beacon of sustainability is now facing a turning point. Sven Binner plans an emigration and therefore gives up his Unverpackt store to the autumn 2023. The attractive corner store in the residential area of Striesen, which has earned a loyal clientele since its inception four years ago, has been advertised for sale on the platform nexxt-change.org since June 2023.
The reasons for the sale
What began in 2019 with a lot of energy and high popularity is coming to an end after now almost five years and due to unforeseen challenges that led to an abrupt drop in sales in the wake of the Russian war of aggression in 2022. Now the beacon of sustainability in Dresden is up for sale. The website states, among other things, "As you have already noticed in recent weeks, it has already become significantly emptier due to the too low, stagnating customer and sales figures. These plummeted abruptly by up to 60 percent in April 2022 due to price increases and uncertainties in the wake of the Russian war of aggression and have not fully recovered to date. That gap is simply missing from the purchasing budget."
Binner announced as early as June 2023 his desire to leave the business to pursue a new private opportunity. The offer includes all inventory, including the point-of-sale system and scales, retail and warehouse shelving and food storage containers. This process is part of the closure phase that Binner initiated after its decision and a sign of the approaching end of a significant chapter in the history of sustainable retail in Dresden. Since the announcement, parallel to the sale of the store, the inventory is also offered individually.
Despite the challenges, Binner looks back positively on the past years: "I would like to say a big THANK YOU already now. In the last five years here in business, I've had the opportunity to meet lots of great people."
The end of this chapter does not mean the end of the dream of a more sustainable world. Perhaps someone will be found to carry on Sven Binner's vision and breathe new life into the Unverpackt store in Dresden Striesen.
