THE GOOD FILL STORY

Hi! I’m Megan, the creator of Nashville’s first low‑waste refill shop, The Good Fill. This space exists because in 2016, as I chose a more conscious lifestyle, I couldn't find what I was looking for. I wanted clean, thoughtfully sourced, toxin-free products, and less packaging all in one place.

For 13 years, I worked as a hairstylist, a career that took me from the Virginia Coast to Costa Rica. While there, I helped train at-risk youth, many whose families worked long days on palm and banana farms that paid barely $20 a day so American shelves could stay stocked with cheaper goods. Seeing their reality up close made me realize that my everyday choices back home, even a simple grocery trip, were connected to real people and environments. That realization sent me down a reasearching rabbit hole. I started asking deeper questions about where things came from, what was in them, who was making them, and what happened to them after I threw them away. During that process, I also couldn't ignore what years of inhaling harsh salon chemicals had done to my own health. 

I. felt. so. overwhlemed. Ultimately, we are all doing our best to support and provide for ourselves and our loved ones in the ways we know how. Most of us go through our days without the time to reconsider how our purchases may negatively affect our health, and the health of the world around us. We tend to prioritize convenience when buying, often without considering the consequences. We're conditioned to buy, use, and dispose of things without much regard for the impact of our consumption. However, our purchases and voices shape the direction of entire industries!

Those realizations sparked a personal mission to help others buy less, choose better, and seek cleaner alternatives. I decided to fill that gap in 2017, and The Good Fill was born!

Since opening, our community has diverted over 380,000 plastic bottles and containers from landfills. I’ve turned my “ingredient obsession” from years behind the chair into a hands‑on practice, formulating more than 15 bulk refill products in‑house and partnering with local, regional or US labs for what we can't yet create ourselves. Every item on our shelves earns its place through testing and sustainability criteria.

None of this would be possible without our tight‑knit team of Nashville locals who share a love for this city and a belief in what we stand for. They’re your neighbors, just like me, and together we prove that a small community can reshape how people consume.

With love,
Megan Gill