At first, you could easily mistake this bright, timber-floored store for any regular high-end grocery – until words like Tofurkey, hemp protein and dairy-free start jumping out. Jessica Bailey founded the Cruelty Free Shop in 2001 as an online store in her Sydney home. She opened her first Melbourne store in Fitzroy in January this year, conveniently tucked between Lord of the Fries, Yong Green Food and several other vegan-friendly eateries. "It's not even arguable: Melbourne is the vegan capital of Australia," says Bailey. "The response has been fantastic."
In addition to mock meats, cookbooks, pantry staples and stylish leather-free bags, there’s an entire section devoted to vegan chocolate, and another for beauty products, none of which are tested on animals. When possible, she sources everything from Australian makers. “Increasingly, I’m seeing not only vegans here, but people who are making the decision to shop from the environmental or the health perspective,” she says. “And vegans are getting hampers for their non-vegan friends – they want to show them how nice these products can be!”