Jacqueline and Dillon Tucker met while working for a large advertising company in California. Dillon was in the A/V department, while Jacqueline was in the print department. They worked on a few projects together and hit it off. Eventually they married and changed jobs, moving to cities like Denver and Salt Lake City. When they chose to start a family, though, they decided to look east.
Born in Charlotte, Jacqueline has roots in North Carolina but grew up in Pennsylvania. In contrast, Dillon was born and raised in Texas. Though they’ve lived all over the country, they each have family in North Carolina, and ultimately the desire to be around them led the Tuckers to settle here. But one thing about Cary stuck out during the move.
“We’d noticed there wasn’t a refill shop,” Dillon says. The refilleries allow customers to fill their own used containers for things like cleaning supplies in order to minimize waste. “We had always shopped at stores like this throughout our lives—especially in Utah and Colorado, and in California, too. Since we were used to shopping at shops like that, we looked for one here, and there wasn’t one.”
The Tuckers had wanted to open a business together for years. But they didn’t want it to be just any kind of business—they wanted it to be something impactful. “We always wanted it to be something that would mean something,” Dillon says. “Let’s just make a little bit of a difference in the community we live in.”
They knew this could be their opportunity. They were familiar with the area and did some research. There was another store focused on sustainability in Cary—Green4Life—but Jacqueline and Dillon wanted to go further. They wanted to go as close to plastic-free as possible.
Surprisingly, reducing plastic in the lifecycle of the products they sell hasn’t been a problem. The couple started by looking for local vendors and small businesses. They knew about Durham-based company Fillaree, which promotes a circular economy by producing refillable soaps and other cleaning products. To find other vendors, they went to local markets such as the Cary Night Market and Lazy Daze Arts & Crafts Festival. “That’s how we found a lot of candle makers, soap makers, and gifty trinket things,” says Jacqueline.
But finding vendors was just the first step. Vendors then had to agree to the couple’s low-waste requirements, such as little-to-no packaging and, in particular, no plastic packaging. However, this hasn’t been an issue.
“The great thing that we found is that businesses—especially small [ones]—are mostly focused on trying to survive as a business, so maybe low waste isn’t even on their radar,” Dillon says. “But we just talked to them and said, ‘Hey, can you just give this to us without packaging?’ They’d be like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ That makes it easier for them. And so now all of a sudden we’ve turned a product where no one’s even thought about reducing waste with into a zero-waste product.”
Customers are also making low-waste changes on their own thanks to Mindful Merchant. Some customers come in for the first time without knowing much about living a low-waste lifestyle. Others are skeptical that such products can work as well as traditional items. Customers on both ends of the spectrum often find something they like and keep coming back.
Refillables are one such product. Metal and glass bottles line wooden shelves above long wooden tables set against the back wall of the shop. On the table sit large glass jugs filled with shampoo, hair conditioner, hand soap and more. This refill station is one of the most popular parts of the store.
“That’s the number one thing,” says Jacqueline. “And customers will be like, ‘Oh, wow, I can just come back and refill my lotion or my toothpaste!’ And then we keep seeing them coming back.”
While some might have considered it risky to open a brand-new business while just starting a family, it’s working out well for the Tuckers. Mindful Merchant opened in 2022 to a supportive community. Since then, support has only grown, and the last six months have been the shop’s most successful yet.The couple prioritize work-life balance and take Sundays and Mondays off to spend time with their children and with each other. Their kids enjoy visiting them at work and helping to run errands. This flexibility is key in running the shop together.
“A big part of the reason we wanted to do it in the first place was because we moved here for our kids, our family,” says Dillon. “This is just the right fit for us at this time in our lives.”
Originally published by 5 West in print and online on July 1, 2025