I may focus a lot on places to eat in the 518 area and I love being able to spotlight these local eateries. It’s always fun though, to take a step back from enlarging my waistline to meet people who are creating different kinds of businesses.
/edit JUST Water is no longer located in Glens Falls.
Earlier in the year, I went to an exhibition at Whole Foods Market in Colonie Center that focused on some of the local products being sold and immediately I was drawn to JUST Water (Glens Falls, NY).
Currently found in an old Catholic Church in the heart of Downtown Glens Falls, the goal of just water isn’t just to provide the best water possible but for that journey to include the betterment of the surrounding area. Instead of just “setting up shop” as they say, they wanted to actually become members of the community, that way JUST Water becomes more of a partnership than just a business relationship.
The way it was explained to me, Glens Falls used to be an incredible business district and with that population, they needed to bring a large amount of water to the town. As times and trades changed, that amount of water isn’t needed but was still being transferred from the watershed. JUST Water said that they would take the excess of that water, bottle it in plant-based containers and return money and resources in the town that welcomed them. JUST Water has since fixed some of the pipes to reduce the amount of water loss in transportation, met with school and government officials for funding opportunities as well as many other things to put the community and people in it first.
Representatives from JUST Water went to town hall meetings, met with community leaders and created a business model that puts the consumer and community before anything else. From little things like adding a place to write your name on the bottle after complaints or bottling in a different package than the plastic you’ve seen to help the environment. The packages are more like a carton than a bottle thus, allowing them to use more renewable resources. The container is made of 54% paper, 28% plant-based plastic, 15% traditional plastic & 3% aluminum (that’s 82% renewable resources!) but they’re always looking at how they lower their carbon footprint even further!
From the story of this company you could feel the love and passion that I not only understood from my conversation with Jim Siplon, (COO) I felt it inside the building talking to each and every person. It’s something that I could go on about for 3 more posts on my blog! It isn’t just about the water to them, though it’s incredibly delicious, it’s about the community first which is something we don’t see much from businesses anymore. From stories I heard about keeping jobs local, giving people jobs because of their passion for the product, using local resources to convert the building, I feel good about supporting this business and buying their water because I feel like they’re supporting the 518 just the same! I can’t wait to see what else they’re going to do and I’ll be sure to keep you updated!
