Unless Ethikli, a package-free, vegan grocery store in downtown Long Beach, can find an investor by the end of October, it will be time to pack it in.
Katy Impellizzeri opened the store more than three years ago with the mission to operate “a place where you can shop without having to read each label and research each company to make sure that their values match yours,” where “food is affordable and grown in a truly sustainable way,” she said.
The store offers everything from spices to dry goods and from vegan cheeses to cleaning products, most on a per-ounce basis, where visitors bring in their own containers to fill.
But the “slow drip” of rising costs and the impact of tariffs has made that mission harder to maintain, Impellizzeri said.
Impellizzeri has always tried to source goods locally – like the olives and pickles the store carries – but some can’t be found within the United States.
Specifically, Canada carries many “low waste goods” that are “higher quality” than competitors found in the U.S., Impellizzeri said.
Tariffs on Canadian goods started at 25% in early March and increased to 35% in August.
The shop had to discontinue selling a specific razor brand because its cost “almost doubled,” Impellizeri said.
A decline in foot traffic in the area has also led to a drop in sales, making it tough for the store to keep up with unexpected price increases for the dry goods that Ethikli gets from within California, Impellizzeri said.
With all of those rising costs in mind, she set Oct. 31 as a firm deadline to either close the shop or find a buyer or investor.
She also launched a GoFundMe for the store to cover labor costs, operating expenses and “give our small team breathing room to transition,” Impellizzeri wrote on the fundraiser, which has a goal of raising $5,500.
Specifically, the shop is looking for an investor to put in between $100,000 to $150,000 to keep it operating at its current capacity.
That ask is flexible, Impellizzeri said, but her goal is to stay open for at least another year while investing that money into marketing and expanding her online store.
For the past two years, Impellizzeri has been managing the shop’s operations remotely. In 2023, she learned she was pregnant and moved to the East Coast to be closer to her parents.
In that time, she’s done “odd jobs” like home organization and web design, but managing the store “takes up a majority of my time,” Impellizzeri said.
Before making the move, Impellizzeri altered the stores’ ownership model. Essentially, anyone hired to work at the shop became a part-owner. After a six-month probationary period, any new hire who was approved by a majority vote of the current owners got a stake in the store.
“It’s been interesting to see the hesitation initially, but then watching people step into their power and really enjoying what they do because they feel seen and heard,” Impellizeri said.
At its peak, the store had seven part-owners, Impellizzeri said. Now, it’s down to two.
Even if the store has to close at the end of October, Impellizzeri said it won’t be the end of her mission to rework how people buy food.
“This definitely was not a failure at all,” Impellizzeri said. “If anything, it was proof that it works and people want and need this kind of shop.”
Early last year, the store put in a pay-it-forward board where customers could donate anywhere between $1 and $50 for someone else to use to purchase goods.
The program “took off right away,” and Impellizeri said a number of people experiencing homelessness have used the program to “walk in and walk out with food, even if they don’t have any money.”
“It’s been really nice to be able to help people in that way,” she said.
Ethikli, 352 E. Fourth St., is open Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.