Near and fair

Near & Fair are a small BAFTS-registered fair trade gift shop in Hull, the two people that started and run the business are Richard & Julie.

Fair trade started for us many years ago through the wonderful One World Shop in Hull, which was Hull’s very first BAFTS-registered fair trade shop. Julie used to work above this shop for a charity called the DEC (Development Education Centre) which among other things sent facilitators into schools, armed with a mix of artefacts from around the world, to teach children about the lives of people in other countries. Julie’s job was to run the DEC’s resource centre, but she loved every opportunity she had to pop downstairs to look around the shop and perhaps have a chat with the then-owners, Chris and Peter.

We are are still friends with Chris and Peter, who were instrumental in the achievement of Fair Trade City Status for Hull. Their help in finding ethical wholesalers and putting us in touch with other like-minded individuals and groups has been invaluable and very much appreciated. We now have contact with lots of BAFTS-registered wholesalers and in 2019 we became a proud member of BAFTS ourselves.

After trading at craft fairs and markets for a few years we decided to put down roots in a permanent retail unit in Hull’s historic Trinity Market Arcade in January 2018 following the building’s extensive refurbishment. Since then, we progressed rapidly from a sparsely-stocked little retail unit selling gifts and incense to bursting at the seams with the addition of clothes and chocolate.

By the end of 2019 we were desperate for more space. After the unexpected delays caused by Covid-19 and the first lockdown, we finally moved to the Market Arcade’s second-largest retail unit at the end of June 2020, with the Lord Mayor of Hull Cllr Steve Wilson cutting the ribbon on our official opening day.

The new space has filled quickly with a larger range of clothing, more gift items and the addition of fairtrade teas, coffees and biscuits. More items are added to our stock list regularly, and you can keep track of these by following our Facebook and Instagram pages.