When Alecia Meier was a child, her family dog died. They had mopped with a traditional chemical floor cleaner and the dog had poisoned itself licking the floor.
To Meier, the fact that such dangerous chemicals existed in household products with little warning or awareness was part of the reason she started her new business, Looks Far.
Based in Kremmling, Looks Far describes itself as a community trading post focused on organic, sustainable care. The business celebrated its grand opening earlier last week.
Meier is one of the founders of the business. She makes the self-care and household products available at her small store with safe ingredients and reusable packaging.
“All my products are plant based; you could drink it if you
wanted to,” Meier said. “It wouldn’t taste very good, but it’s not going to
harm you or your family, your pets.”
Customers who purchase refills of her products buy it at a
reduced price. This is part of Looks Far’s business model to cut waste.
Meier has lived in Kremmling for a year and started working on the idea of the business six months ago. She said that the choice to start Looks Far in a town like Kremmling was intentional.
“With this small town, people do care,” Meier said. “They
may not be aware of the impact that their consumer methods have on the planet,
but I believe they’re willing to listen.”
Other products offered at the store include crocheting by Meier’s mother and embroidery made by her sister. On one wall is a community board where Meier has posted different organic and sustainable ideas, along with some of the environmental dangers the world is currently facing.
Ideally, she wants this board to become a place where other
businesses can post offerings for ideas and products that align with the
organic, sustainable model of Looks Far.
Friends and family are enthusiastic about her concept across
the country, but Meier has chosen to not ship any of her products because of
the environmental toll of shipping. She hopes others can eventually take her
recipes and implement similar businesses in their communities, cutting out the
middlemen.
The name of the business not only refers to the idea of
“looking far into the future,” but also references the name of her parents’
home in Big Horn Park. Her family practices sustainable living there, hunting
and gardening their own food.
Meier’s biggest goal is for her shop to encourage people and
businesses in Kremmling to move toward more sustainable practices in their own
neighborhoods.
“I want to start a community movement where people come back
to that original trading post kind of living,” Meier said.
Meier is still working to make her business as eco-friendly
as possible.
“Obviously, this isn’t all sustainable,” Meier said. “I’m
still using electricity; I’m still using all these things. But the goal would
be to have a bigger place, fully solar-powered, and a lot of different means to
eliminate that natural resource use that we just can’t provide any more.”