The new owner of a health food shop in Teignmouth has big plans to promote sustainable and ethical living.

Helen La Trobe bought the Teignmouth branch of Poppadums earlier this month and has named her new venture Happy Bean Health.

The owners of Poppadums, which had been a stalwart of Teignmouht’s Waterloo Street for 40 years, sold the shop as they try to ‘take it a little easier’. They will continue operating Poppadums in Dawlish.

Happy Bean Health will continue to sell the same items as Poppadums but will ‘squeeze in a few more products and ideas alongside’.

Helen, who is originally from the Teign Valley, has recently returned to Devon after spending 18 years working for non-governmental organisations and charities in Ghana, West Africa.

Passionate about sustainable and ethical living, Helen is keen to ensure Happy Bean Health contributes positively to people and nature.

She will install a water machine in the shop so people are able to refill their reusable bottles, and the shop will feature on the refill.org.uk map so anyone can find it and pop in and refill their water bottle for free.

Products in the shop will be sourced from ethical suppliers and workers’ cooperatives, such as Suma and she plans to phase out products with palm oil.

While Helen is keen to integrate more fairtrade products to support communities around the world, she is also keen to champion businesses and organisations based in and around Teignmouth and there will be a space dedicated to advertising local products and services. She also intends to donate some of the shop’s profits to support local projects and charities.

‘There’s so much going on locally that’s helping the push for sustainability,’ Helen commented. ‘Right on the doorstep is Inspirwood who made the shop’s signboard and A-board. Using local products and services has so many benefits for local economies and helps avoid the leaky bucket,’ she added.

Helen hopes to use the shop as a way of gently campaigning on issues relating to sustainability, living ethically and contributing positively to the world. She plans to set up a newsletter and use social media to raise awareness of the importance of supporting local products and fairtrade, avoiding plastics and perhaps promoting ‘more adventurous topics such as the impacts of gold mining on cocoa production’. She will also celebrate awareness days such as World Bee Day, World Water Day, International Youth Day and the International Day of Zero Waste.

To underpin her commitment to sustainability, Helen will also offer a small sewing repair service, repairing holes in a seam, a hem that’s fallen down or replacing a button that’s fallen off. ‘I enjoy sewing but not everyone does, and it’s all part of sustainability by making clothes last a bit longer.

While Helen has a degree in natural resource management and a PhD based on researching the sustainability of local food marketing schemes, she admitted that ‘I don’t know much about herbal remedies and their healing properties’. However, she is keen to learn. ‘I’m a very rigorous researcher and promise to do my very best to help when anyone comes in with health needs.’