Last week on Feb. 2, Sixth and Zero held the grand opening of its new location at 425 Main St. Locally-owned by Mary Allen, the shop offers eco-friendly, ethically, and sustainably sourced goods, as well as homemade soaps and body products.
“We had a great opening week,” says Allen. “I’m excited to be a part of Downtown. It seems like a really nice collaborative spirit of copromoting and wanting everyone to succeed.”
The new location rests one block from the Ford Center and is a fun and interesting addition to the Downtown shopping scene. Large windows across the storefront combine with the bright colors of the products and displays to create a refreshing, inviting atmosphere.
The natural light highlights Sixth and Zero’s homemade soaps and their sourced products such as a sustainable make-up line and household tools and décor. The shelves of enticing goods direct traffic to the back corner which houses a refillery.
Stocked with all-natural shampoos, soaps, toilet and household cleaners, bath salts, and other body products, the refillery allows customers to purchase a reusable container and return as needed for their preferred products.
“All the companies we source from we are super conscious about their sustainability practices and fair-trade practices,” says Allen. “Our core guide is trust and transparency.”
Allen transitioned the original shop under her home in Haynie’s Corner to combine a storefront, refillery, and manufacturing all under one roof. Sixth and Zero — which also has a small store front at 108 State St. in Newburgh, Indiana — began as Soap Solutions eight years ago. A few years later, Allen opened a full storefront under the name Sixth Street Soapery.
“That was our main launch in trying to grow,” she says. “I started venturing into zero waste and sustainability, so we combined those things — Sixth Street Soapery and zero waste — to form Sixth and Zero.”
Inspired greatly by small moments in her personal life, including a soap-making chemistry project for her daughter’s school and the book “Serve God, Save the Planet” by Matthew Sleeth, Allen’s passion for sustainability didn’t happen overnight.
“You start researching more and more and making little change yourself,” she says. “It kind of grew out of that, you think how can we make this accessible to more people.”
Don’t just take our word for it, visit Sixth and Zero on Main Street from 10 a.m. 6 p.m. to Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.
