Everyone is finding it tough at the moment and wants life to get back to normal.

We will be profiling local independent businesses regularly over the coming weeks in a feature called UP CLOSE IN MALDON DISTRICT to help showcase our town centre and village traders. By spending locally, you help support local jobs - and so build our communities back stronger.

This week we talk to Lucie Walker-Hutt - owner of Maldon's very own refill store, Silo.

When Lucie Walker-Hutt and her sister Charlotte embarked on a plan to open a refill store in Maldon, in many ways it wasn't a project Lucie would have been inclined to start herself.

Lucie explains: "I am by nature a bit risk averse, so when Charlotte suggested we open the shop, I was a little worried by the idea at first."

Now, of course, Lucie is the proud owner of Silo, the eco-friendly refill store on Maldon High Street that has become a huge success.

Silo was first opened in September, 2019, and moved to the new, larger High Street premises earlier this year. This summer, Silo also has a tent down at Promenade Park from which visitors can by a selection of environmentally-friendly, sustainable goods. Lucie has the tent beside a shepherd hut from which Maldon Books sells in the park, too – and both Lucie and Maldon Books owner Olivia Rosenthaal hope the summer venture will help encourage visitors to take a closer look at the local High Street with all it has to offer.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of this success is that having started Silo when she did, Lucie was quickly facing a situation that none of us could have anticipated.

"We opened up and then the pandemic came," Lucie says, "and we were such a new business, but to my surprise people just carried on buying from us as they had before. We had to make adjustments and change things and we had to develop the online business, but it worked.

"The support we had from the community was amazing – both from our customers and from the other traders on the High Street, too. This really is a close community of businesses and everyone has supported each other."

Lucie has been pleased to see how people have continued using – and been drawn back to – their local independent shops during this crisis, with Daniel's fruit and veg stall opening at the rear of The Emporium and other new businesses emerging in the town centre, too.

So what inspired Lucie to open Silo – and what are some of the keys to its success?

"Having a daughter made me think harder," Lucie says, "and I thought we absolutely need to make the planet a place our children can grow up in.

"And even now, it's not a fast-paced shop. It's somewhere you can stop and have a chat if you want one. That has been important during the pandemic for a lot of people."

Lucie also feels there is a lot of pressure put on people, especially women, to be all things and to do everything perfectly.

She adds: "But it's not about that, it's about doing what we can and doing our little bit. Sadly, until pressure is put on the big corporations to do more, it is hard to see what the way forward will be."

Her hopes and plans for the future for Silo include helping to convert more people to an eco lifestyle.

"We want to make this mainstream and help with the education side of things," she says.

As well as talking to local schools about this, Lucie and the Silo team have also helped other eco businesses in Essex with start up plans, sharing the benefit of the experience they've had.

And if she had a single message for potential customers, what would it be?

Lucie says: "Come as you are. You don't have to bring anything, you don't have to be an eco warrior - everyone is welcome here.

"As the saying goes, we don't need one person doing zero waste perfectly, we need everyone to do it imperfectly."

The Keep it Local campaign is being launched through Maldon District Council's Sense of Place initiative, with funding from the Magnox Decommissioning Fund.