It’s never been more important to shop locally. In partnership with Xero, we celebrate five businesses that are doing great things in lockdown.
We can still support our talented makers, artists and chocolatiers while we’re stuck at home. Order takeaway from your favourite local cafe or restaurant, spoil yourself with a locally made treat, or brighten a friend’s day with a gift from a Sydney-based business.
Here are five local businesses to inspire your online (or takeaway) shopping.
Trading Blak
Trading Blak is a collective of 11 Blak-owned businesses formed to showcase Indigenous entrepreneurs and provide a platform to sell their wares, while also creating a safe and transparent space to “educate, inform and support” Indigenous owned businesses and those who wish to support them. At the Trading Blak online store, find prints and earrings from Canberra’s Krystal Hurst, a Worimi woman and jewellery designer, painter and printmaker; aromatherapy products from Earth Jiinda, founded on the NSW mid-north coast by Gumbaynggirr woman Jame Telfer; and yoga mats and activewear from Sydney-based label Jarin Street, run by Wiradjuri woman Jarin Baigent.
Treat Dreams
Delicious, decadent chocolate – but make it vegan. Treat Dreams produces premium dairy-free chocolate at its Sydney headquarters in Marrickville. Intended to taste just as good – or better – than its milky cousin, Treat Dreams is made from fairtrade and direct-trade couverture chocolate, sugar, vanilla and plant-based emulsifier, while its white chocolate uses almonds in place of milk. Chocolate bars come in traditional flavours – think peanut crunch or cookies and cream – and combinations a little more out of the box, such as the Aussie Pavlova or passionfruit milk chocolate, a limited edition for Wear It Purple Day. Yes, they are available online.
Paramount Coffee Project
A ham hock toastie is dish seemingly created for chilly winter walks – so thank goodness, Paramount Coffee Project is still open for takeaway. The Surry Hills staple is renowned for its excellent coffee and moreish breakfasts, like Brickfield sourdough with avocado, fermented salsa and cashew butter; and pearl barley porridge with apple, mandarin, rhubarb and pistachio. And it’s not just coffee and brunch fare – think a Fried Chicken Yuzu Burger, with hot chips and a chilled beer for $15. Check their Instagram for updates on what their cooking.
Peaches Pilates
When Covid-19 sent the nation into lockdown in March 2020, Peaches Pilates, a boutique fitness studio with locations in Bondi, Cronulla, Maroubra and Byron Bay, shut its doors and made the switch to online. It was a difficult transition that fortunately came with a silver lining: today, Peaches boasts subscribers in 24 countries around the world. The Peaches message of community, positivity and inclusivity and its focus on wellbeing is just the tonic we need to stay afloat in Sydney’s extended lockdown. The online offering includes live Pilates, boxing, barre, weights, cardio, HIIT, yoga and yin classes via Zoom, as well as access to a catalogue of workouts, workshops, recipes and product reviews. Membership starts at $19.99 a month.
Nagnata
Nagnata, a lifestyle and slow-fashion label run by sisters Laura May and Hannah Gibbs, offers an antidote to fast fashion. Built on principles of versatility, functionality and sustainability, Nagnata produces clothing designed to tread lightly on the planet. Since it was founded by Gibbs in 2017, Nagnata has released just two collections a year: to date, seven “Movement” and two “Core” collections, plus the popular Sama Genderless range. Comfortable and a little bit chic, Nagnata’s crops, shorts, leggings and sweaters, made from Global Organic Textile Standard-certified organic cotton and merino wool, are exactly what we want to wear during a lockdown.
This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Xero. Whether you lead a team or are going it alone, Xero’s online accounting helps you do business, but better. Find out more here.
Photography: Courtesy of Nagnata / Rob Tennent
