FD Market Co. owner Jacquelyn Bassett of Lower Macungie Township poses with a cupcake after celebrating her second anniversary in business. She is opening her second store focusing on eco-friendly products, this spring in Downtown Easton.
Lower Macungie Township resident Jacquelyn Bassett simply wants to improve the environment and make the world a better place to live.
It’s been her mission since childhood when parents William and Jaime Bassett would instill in her and brothers Will, Dylan and Lane to be good stewards of the Earth’s natural resources. This included turning off running water, recycling, buying local food and changing their modes of transportation.
Jacquelyn Bassett recalls traveling to Utah and Alaska as part of Emmaus High School’s National Parks Club and becoming immersed firsthand in the effects of climate change. It led her to become even more serious as a teen in her consumption habits. Upon graduation in 2018, she wanted to do more.
“I realized that there were very few sustainable options locally, so I created the retail experience that I was personally looking for,” Bassett told lehighvalleylive.com.
FD Market Co., her first brick-and-mortar shop, opened in November 2019 on Main Street in Emmaus. Bassett co-owns it with her mother. The pair’s vision was to create a one-stop store for sustainable goods and a zero-waste refillery.
The success of that venture now has led Bassett to now open a second location. She plans in April to open in space that previously housed QD Accounting at 158 Northampton St. in Downtown Easton. FD Market additionally has a thriving e-commerce operation.
“We are very excited to be able to better serve that area of the Lehigh Valley,” Bassett said. “We have customers who have had to make the trek out to Emmaus, and having a location closer to them will help bridge the gap a bit.”
Bassett is strict when it comes to finding products for her stores. Not everything passes the test.
She typically asks these four questions: How was it made? Who made it? How was it treated? Where will it go when a patron is done with it? She’s also a fan of items produced regionally or locally.
“We think there is something really beautiful about taking it back to the basics,” Bassett said. “Less waste, more intentionality. Less packaging, more beauty.”
The Easton store plans to have the same lineup of well-known products found at the Emmaus site. There are more than 50 different household and personal care products “on tap” that customers can use to fill up their own containers, Bassett said.
She noted there’s been a lack of similar refillery options in the region. In February, FD Market was able to divert 670 plastic bottles from landfills at the Emmaus location, she said.
Patrons will find a wide range of products in the market’s beauty and skincare line. There are sustainable cosmetics; bamboo brushes; plant-based bath poufs; organic facial serums; vegan lip butter; blue green algae and charcoal face masks; and reusable facial rounds. The store carries beard oil and shave cream for men. There’s shampoo and conditioner haircare bars, as well as bottled shampoo and conditioner in such scents as citrus, lavender and peppermint.
FD also has a wide range of household items and cleaning products. There’s such gadgets as “avocado huggers,” laundry peg airers, dish and vegetable brushes, and counter composters. There’s bamboo toilet paper, beeswax candles, reusable coffee filters and organic candles. Guests also can find reusable shopping bags; all-natural, all-purpose cleaners; reusable drinking straws and washable dusters.
There’s additionally a section for small children. Here, patrons can shop eco-pacifiers, made from 100% natural rubber and molded into one piece; eco-crayons, made from beeswax, carnauba wax, soy wax and mineral pigments; cloth wipes and rattle toys.
Patrons who opt for such products as dish soap, laundry detergent, shampoo or conditioner can buy a glass or aluminum container from the store or bring any clean and dry container from home. Bassett said she’s filled up anything from old dish soap bottles to former honey bears to salsa jars. The cost is determined based on the weight of the product inside the container, but patrons can save cash by not buying another new container.
“As long as it is clean and dry, we will fill it and encourage customers to reuse what they already have before buying new,” Bassett said.
Items popular at the Emmaus store include the dryer balls made with organic wool, which reduce drying time and last up to 1,000 loads. There are also beeswax wraps, made from organic cotton, which can be used in place of plastic wrap or aluminum foil. The machine-washable “UNpaper towels” are made from 100% cotton flannel and can be reused multiple times.
“Customers love that they can trust that the products are good for the planet, as well as safe to use in their homes,” Bassett said. “They don’t have to worry about greenwashing. A lot of people assume that ‘natural’ products don’t work as well, but our customers have said that the alternatives that we have work better than what they were using previously.”
FD Market has been a fixture at area farmers markets and festivals, such as Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem. Owner Jacquelyn Bassett plans to bring her products this spring to the Doylestown Farmers Market.
Entrepreneurship is in Bassett’s blood.
Her mother, Jaime, launched a sustainable home design business, FD Design, in 2019. The entire family is involved in another business, Pedro’s Cafe, which serves “fair-trade coffee and thoughtful foods,” at 318 Main St. in Emmaus. It opened in June 2021.
Bassett temporarily put college aspirations aside to bring the brick-and-mortar stores to fruition. She also spent time traveling to places in need of her help in protection and preservation efforts.
FD Market has been a fixture at area farmers markets and festivals, such as Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem. Bassett said bringing her market on the road isn’t going away anytime soon, given that her deep clientele base at the Easton Farmers’ Market was a factor in deciding the location for the second site.
FD Market plans to have a showing this spring at Doylestown Farmers Market. Bassett also isn’t ruling out future plans for a third store expansion in the Lehigh Valley.
“We’re on a mission to make sustainable living obtainable and beautiful for everyone,” she said.
The Emmaus store is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second and fourth Sunday of the month. The store is closed on Monday until April 1. After April 1, the store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Hours for the Easton store are pending.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
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