Better Business – feat. Double Retail

Throughout March 2021, B Corp Month, we collaborated with some fellow local B Corps. Each week we focused on and featured a specific area within the B Corp Assessment sections to celebrate and champion what it is that makes some of the local B Corporations a “B Corp”, to hopefully inspire many more to join the movement.

Here, Polly Grinnell, Owner & Director at Double Retail shares their take.

ADLIB: For some background information, who are you as a business and what makes your business offering unique?

Polly Grinnell: Double Retail are a design and build business specialised in creating responsible and sustainable retail environments for brands and retailers around the world. We actively challenge every aspect of a project, looking to achieve positive impact, from the materials used, the manufacture methods chosen, the delivery and installation practices and the end use of the physical space.

ADLIB: What got you interested in joining the B Corp movement and what does being a B Corp mean to you?

Polly Grinnell: We knew our business was already operating very differently from the norm and we were looking for ways to validate the changes that we’d made. B Corp felt like the most in depth and holistic movement to be a part of. Our B Corp certification is recognition of an enormous amount of hard work that the whole team has put in over the past few years.

ADLIB: Can you share a little bit about your B Corp story, what the process was like for you?

Polly Grinnell: Our B Corp journey was driven by a founding principle to be a better business. Double was started for this reason and by involving everyone in the journey, it has created the culture that Double is built on. The assessment process itself was a company-wide effort with every member of the team having responsibilities and accountabilities to gather information and achieve what was needed to verify our business model. It took around 12 months of concentrate effort, with regular communication and team work.

ADLIB: Talking specifically about CUSTOMERS – What does it mean to you to be a better steward to customers?

Polly Grinnell: Double is a service-based business, working with brands and retailers, large and small. Our talent is our ability to create and implement physical spaces which encapsulate the values of our customers. But, it is our belief, that to do this to the highest standard, we first have to challenge what we believe to be right in the world. Right by our people, our planet and by our customers.

We believe in building truly supportive relationships with our stakeholder community, learning and growing with them. There is no hierarchy in our business or in these relationships and by being honest and transparent and true to what we believe to be right, we can provide far greater value to those that invest in our services. We strive to be ambassadors for better business, changing our industry and the decisions that it makes, to see a future where our customers are a force for good.

This article is part of the “Better Business” series during B Corp Month, a collaboration of the Bristol & Bath B Local Group. More info about #BristolBathBCorps here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9002180/ and more info about B Corp here: https://bcorporation.net/.