Hayley Magrini’s new shop, The Well, is a clean refill station offering low-waste essentials for home and body. It exudes the very qualities you will be met with in Hayley; a calming warmth, to the point, focused on turning Topangans on to the zero waste movement.
“We are excited to work with Hayley and to be educated by her as we move forward — the center will benefit from her wealth of knowledge as we look to further elevate our sustainable practices,” shares Nathan Daneshgar, the owner and manager of Pine Tree Circle. “We believe in her mission and in Hayley as an incisive, genuine, devoted, and enthusiastic operator and community leader.”
Magrini’s passion for zero waste is revealed in the simplicity of the goods in the shop with completely approachable prices. Even some of the furniture in the shop is up-cycled.
“This whole movement shouldn’t be about everything looking perfect, or overly curated,” she explains. “It should be about minimizing waste. As long as your bottle is clean, The Well will happily accept it.”
Local brands like Zatik out of Glendale offer Magrini a price break, which she is enthused to pass on to customers. She also notes that the future of zero waste is in concentrates and solids. Something most consumers never think twice about: the water they are paying for in their products. In perusing the shop you’ll find a variety of concentrates throughout.
The Well carries Topanga based brands Clarity, an all-purpose cleaner, and Lamissapple, which makes a variety of cleaning products like dish powders and grout scrub, as well as products for pets.
In light of the recent Black Lives Matter movement, Magrini also emphasizes the importance of supporting black-owned businesses, which leads us to female owned business, PUR Home.
“Angela Richardson really understands how to make an effective product,” Magrini says. “The Well carries their floor cleaner, glass cleaner and bathroom cleaner with notes of Rosemary Citrus and Lavender Lemon. We’re working on our 55 gallon drum exchange, which can later be upcycled into many things particularly collecting rainwater.”
There are vintage curiosities and exotic wares and fares like a natural toothpick plant from Morocco, “no packaging with a bit of refreshing, stringent taste,” and a rose-hued dragon’s blood resin facial cleanser, the resin sourced from a tropical tree.
Daneshgar was visiting retailers at the time of our visit and added, “Hayley’s new refill station is a beautiful resource for Topanga and neighboring communities, as well as an example for Los Angeles of an established solution for everyday sustainability and ecological sensitivity.
“We have been hoping for Pine Tree Circle to evolve further into a place for wellness, and we believe The Well has a dual and congruous aim in this way: toward the wellness of the earth — through responsible sourcing and the opportunity for a collective reduction in our environmental footprint, and toward the wellness of human beings — through its clean and natural bath and home offerings.”
We asked Magrini for some advice for Topangans interested in becoming zero waste oriented:
“Not everyone in a single household is going to be on the same page in regards to how clean or what in the house should be clean, and that’s okay, everyone goes at a different pace,” she says.
“My husband, for example, just started learning how to make his own pickles and hot sauce so he doesn’t have to get them in plastic. We are all doing our own part, especially during COVID, everyone is learning how to do all sorts of things for themselves. It’s about taking those small changes and turning them into habits.” n
The Well is open Wednesday – Sunday 11-6 p.m. at Pine Tree Circle, 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. @thewellrefill.
