Trade Talks Tuesday: Hackney Essentials on Thoughtful Curation, Artisan Makers and the Joy of Shopping In Person

Great independent retail is often as much about what you leave out as what you put on the shelves. For Hackney Essentials, every product forms part of a wider collection built around contemporary hosting, seasonal living and the simple pleasure of bringing people together around the table.

Founded in 2020 and based on London's Columbia Road, Hackney Essentials brings together food, wine and homeware selected with craft, sustainability and thoughtful design in mind. Its sourcing extends from local makers to discoveries made while travelling, creating a collection that feels considered without being predictable.

For this edition of Trade Talks Tuesday, we spoke with Lauren Mackintosh about building relationships with makers, finding new brands, the importance of seasonality and why personal service, physical discovery and community still give independent shops something online retail can't easily replicate.

About Hackney Essentials

Founded in 2020, Hackney Essentials is an independent retailer on Columbia Road in East London, with a collection centred around contemporary hosting and seasonal living.

Bringing together food, wine and homeware designed to be shared around the table, the shop champions products rooted in craft, sustainability and thoughtful design.

Its collection combines local makers with brands discovered further afield, complemented by tastings and seasonal events that connect the shop with its surrounding community.

Contact: Lauren Mackintosh

Hackney Essentials feels more like a carefully curated collection than a traditional shop. How do you decide whether a new product deserves a place on your shelves?

We choose producers who are passionate about what they do, work ethically and sustainably, and are committed to making high-quality products.

Seasonality matters too — we like to introduce particular things at different times of the year.

Beyond the product itself, we care about building a genuine relationship with each maker.

If a producer's values align with ours and they bring something unique, well-made, well-designed and a little fun, they're a great fit for Hackney Essentials.

You work with lots of artisan makers and small producers. What makes a brand stand out to you when you're discovering new suppliers?

We love championing smaller brands that bring something unique to our shop, and we're always looking for products with a story behind them.

We love meeting makers who genuinely care about what they create rather than simply following trends.

And while great design, quality and originality all matter, we also think about how a brand will sit alongside everything else in the shop.

You discover products in lots of different ways today. Where do you find the most exciting new brands — trade shows, online, social media, recommendations, or somewhere else?

It's a real mix.

Trade shows are still invaluable because we can see an amazing collection of different products in person and meet the people behind the brands. Instagram has become a great place to discover, and we often get recommendations from brands we already stock.

We love exploring different countries, cities and neighbourhoods, seeing how people shop, eat and live — it's really about staying curious.

Alongside championing local makers, we love introducing brands from further afield that our customers might not otherwise come across in the UK.

Customers today can buy almost anything online. What do you think makes people choose an independent shop like Hackney Essentials instead?

We think people still enjoy seeing, touching and experiencing products before they buy. They also value personal service and honest recommendations from our team.

We regularly host tastings and seasonal events, so the shop feels connected to the community on Columbia Road, not just somewhere people pop in and out of.

And because food, wine and homeware all sit together, customers can picture how things might work in their own homes, not just how they look on a shelf.

If you could give one piece of advice to an independent brand hoping to be stocked by Hackney Essentials, what would it be?

We love brands with a clear point of view and products that are made with care.

It also helps if you've thought about how your products will work in a retail environment — from packaging and pricing to how they'll sit alongside other products on the shelf.

Key Takeaways

• Curation starts with shared values. Quality, sustainability, thoughtful design and a genuine passion for the product all influence what earns a place at Hackney Essentials.

• Retailer-supplier relationships are partnerships. The people and values behind a product matter alongside its commercial and aesthetic qualities.

• A strong collection is about context. Even a great standalone product needs to complement the wider assortment around it.

• Discovery happens everywhere. Trade shows, Instagram and recommendations all play a role, while travel provides particularly important inspiration.

• Independent retail offers physical and human discovery. Touching products, receiving personal recommendations and attending events create experiences that ecommerce struggles to reproduce.

• Merchandising helps customers imagine products in their lives. Bringing food, wine and homeware together gives products context beyond an individual shelf.

• Brands need a clear identity. Knowing who you are — and understanding packaging, pricing and retail presentation — can make a supplier much more compelling to buyers.

Hackney Essentials demonstrates how curation can turn individual products into something much broader: a distinctive point of view on how people host, shop and live.

For brands hoping to enter independent retail, Lauren's advice is equally clear. A product doesn't exist in isolation. Buyers are considering the story behind it, the values of the business, how it will sit alongside other products and whether the brand itself brings something distinctive to the shop.

Want to Reach More Retail Buyers?

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