THE owner of the soon-to-open Minimal Footprint in Largs says there is light at the end of the tunnel after waiting since February to unveil her store.

Marina Etchells was due to open her new zero waste shop in Tron Place in February before the coronavirus lockdown forced her to put plans on hold.

However Marina says she is optimistic about the future and is excited to finally introduce the people of Largs to her new idea.

She said: “There’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, it’s just not been the best time to open a business.

“We can legally open but we don’t feel it’s socially responsible.

“We didn’t take the decision lightly, but we decided to be socially responsible was more import than anyone else.

“I’m ready to open now and really excited. I reckon it will be the end of May if I’m going to be optimistic.”

Marina’s shop focusses on bringing reusable containers to fill up with her products such as dry foods, coffee and cleaning products and she says the coronavirus pandemic is making people realise how important it is to keep protecting the environment.

She said: “I think people have realised what we’ve done to the planet, but I don’t think we should to beat ourselves up about it.

“You can see through the canals in Venice, there’s so many birds and bees now and you’re seeing animals in places where you don’t normally see them.

“The world is taking a bit of a breather, and I think that’s become a bit more noticeable.

“I think it’s shown people that it’s time to start looking after the planet a bit more.”

Despite the disappointment of not being able to open back in February, Marina says the support from the Largs community has been fantastic.

She said: “Every time I’m in the shop people are chapping on the door and saying they can’t wait for us to open.

“People are really sympathetic about why we’ve not opened, it’s been a great response even from people I don’t know.

“Largs is a great community for that and I think everyone will pull together.”

The shop owner would like to thank everybody who donated to her RBS ‘Back Her Business’ initiative, that helped her raise over £5,000 to help supply necessary equipment such as gravity bins and dispensers.