Lite Foot Company: A Small Shop Seeking to Make a Big Difference in Savannah

By Vanessa Lantos Daly (Spicy Melon)

Oct. 27, 2025 – “A lot of people think we sell shoes, but they learn we’re not that kind of shop quick enough,” says a bright-spirited Katie Rodgers-Hubbard, the owner, as she greets me.

The bio on her website says she is a “Leslie Knope wannabe,” which instantly has me smitten. But the Parks and Recreation reference might be closer to the truth. I can feel she’s a powerhouse after just a 30-minute conversation.

This kind of store is one of a kind in Savannah, and it evokes a whole life philosophy on its own. Lite Foot Company is located at 2400 Bull Street, across from Flora and Fauna. Having some pastries and coffee before shopping for essentials just feels natural.

“The name Lite Foot is a play on your carbon footprint — meaning walking lighter, using less plastic, and making less impact by creating less waste.”

Katie Rodgers-Hubbard at Lite Foot Company. Photo credit Day Glow Photo

Her store is a refillery, which means you bring your own containers back and refill them with fresh products.

“The main goal is to get all your products without plastic. If you think about it, everything we normally need comes in a single-use plastic container: Things like toothpaste, mouthwash, hand soap, dish soap.” Not only that, but local coffee and tea too! “Everything traditionally comes in single-use containers, and our hope is that our customers will bring containers from home and reuse them.”

So what happens if you forget your containers? Like when I sometimes forget my reusable linen bags at the grocery store. Katie explains, “We have a whole space of donated containers: Used spaghetti glass jars and plastic bottles, which people can take for free. We carry all kinds of liquid essentials, like shampoo, which we sell by weight.”

The store is cozy and full of color, with treasures waiting to be discovered in every nook. There are beautiful plants adorning the space and a zen aura. I had imagined a bright, white, almost sterile and minimalist store with dispensers of refillable products, but this one has lots of personality. Just like Katie.

Interior display of art pieces and products

“Other items that we sell are replacements for common plastic or single-use products,” she says. “Things like deodorant, or toothpaste that comes in a metal tube that can be recycled. We even have toothpaste tablets, which are completely package-free. High-quality metal reusable razors: Razors you can use until the day you die, or until the day you stop shaving… I hope I stop shaving before I die,” she laughs.

There’s are plenty of items that replace classic paper towels, sponges, and other products that are commonly plastic and discarded after one use.

Katie is also deeply involved with the community. She has a nonprofit called Lite Foot Foundation, which grew from her store. “We realized we wanted to do more than just sell things. We’re actively fundraising at the moment, and we have a couple of programs that will help the city reduce plastic and waste.”

She continues, “We want to be in the community for a long time, with the purpose of reducing plastic use.”

As I look around, Katie greets customers and helps them find what they need. Many regulars who have adopted the ‘no single-use plastic’ lifestyle visit her. This is not just a store: It is a community space with a clear purpose.

It’s also the only one of its kind in the city.

“We’ve been a business for 4.5 years. We’ve been in this store for 2.5 of those. We were mobile first: We had a truck called Hillary the Refillery. We’d go to farmers markets and sell out.”

Katie moved to Savannah five years ago from Illinois. Not a fan of the cold, she fell in love with Savannah. Her husband is in the military, so they’ve lived all over the U.S. and in Germany.

“I loved living in Germany, and that experience was a catalyst for starting this. We lived in Kaiserslautern, near Frankfurt. I saw how a whole culture had adapted to less plastic and less waste. Single-use plastics are hard to find there. There are no plastic bags, no plastic cutlery. When we moved to Savannah, I had been used to buying in bulk with no plastics, and I was heartbroken by the lack of options. So I decided to start my own.”

As we chat, customers walk in. She greets them with smiles and warmth and says, “Spilling is part of the game here, so we’re prepared for it.” Customers fill their own containers with shampoo and detergent, which she sells by the ounce. Many bring their own jars or bottles. Others donate their empty containers for future shoppers.

I sit attentively, imagining a life at home with less plastic. I think of my makeup, my shampoo, my deodorant, my toothpaste…

Does anyone else find familiarity and comfort in their daily-used products? What if that comfort could also mean thinking about less waste and thinking about future generations?

For me, throwing away empty bottles and containers every day is an afterthought… but should it be? What if this wasn’t the only store of its kind in Savannah?

I snap out of my daydreaming, still impressed by the fact that Katie couldn’t find a single-use-plastic-free store in Savannah and decided to open her own.

Katie and her husband didn’t choose Savannah. The military brought them here: Her husband had two years left, and they thought they’d come for two years and leave. But like so many others, they fell in love and made it their own. Not only that, they decided to actively get involved with the local community in a way that benefits both the city and the environment.

How many more refilleries could we see nearby? Katie shares, “We were the first in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. The first refillery. Now, since we’ve been around for five years, I think there are about eight in Georgia. Most of these stores are independent, small businesses.”

This is fascinating — with the growing awareness of excess waste and plastic usage, a nationwide chain of refilleries would make sense. With the minimalist movement also rising, you’d think there would be even more demand for stores like this.

Katie says what I’m thinking: “Opening more stores is the goal. If that happened, if we became a chain, it would be sad on the small-business side of things, but much better for the environment. It would make the concept more mainstream.”

I ask her about her biggest challenges. “The biggest challenge is competing with convenience. It’s not even other stores like Target or Walmart — the competitor is convenience. People can get their hand soap while they’re grocery shopping. Coming here is an extra stop and takes a bit more planning, and everyone is busy. But I think that’s a problem all small businesses are having right now. It’s just more convenient to get everything in one place.”

Lite Foot’s Instagram, with nearly 10k followers, shows how powerful her concept is. “I follow a lot of local businesses and try to connect with them. We have a couple hundred committed shoppers who have made this store their own and part of their lives. We’re very grateful and hope to always reach more.”

As I glance around, the shop is full of color — alternatives to wasteful products like coffee filters, tea infusers, shopping bags, and metal straws. The shop glows with color and is beautifully decorated with local art.

She happily explains how they feature local artists who rotate every six months and can display and sell their pieces in the store. “I used to rotate artists every month, but now it’s every six months to give them more time to sell their pieces and to do a proper setup, which can take time and work. I think I’ve had about 20 artists featured in the shop since opening — not always painters, sometimes fiber artists or mixed-media creators.”

There’s a whole section of the store with Ministores where local vendors rent space and sell their products. They have QR codes to pay directly, so payments go straight to the vendors. This way, six independent small businesses can have a storefront and in-person shopping space — and get discovered. These local businesses change every month. They started displaying their Ministores about a year ago.

What’s it like shopping at the refillery? Katie shares, “Typically, there are scales and people will grab a sheet, bring their containers, and write down the ‘before weight’ of their empty container, and then the ‘after weight,’ and we just do the math. Everything liquid is priced by the ounce.”

She’s proud of the quality products she sells but points out that it’s easy to just try things out. “You can buy one or two ounces of something and try it — you don’t have to commit to a full container. You can shop by the ounce and get exactly what you need.”

While we chat, a little puppy bounces around. His name is Neville, and he greets every new shopper. He knows exactly where the shelf with the treats is and sits close to it, whimpering a bit in hope. Katie sighs and tells a shopper, “He’s going to act really cute and try to get you to give him a treat. That’s why he hangs out by the treats.” A completely enchanted lady pets Neville, gives him a treat, and grabs a bag to take home for her own puppy.

Katie isn’t just a small business owner — she’s also active in local government and runs her nonprofit.

“Our nonprofit is trying to get a program going called the Closed-Loop Water Bottle Program. We partner with businesses and sell aluminum water bottles instead of plastic ones. Then we collect, sanitize, and refill them, and distribute them back to be sold again. We have a fundraiser where people have donated or pledged to help get the program going.”

There’s a corner of the store dedicated to this project. Katie explains, “The main item we’re fundraising for is the machine that will clean, sanitize, and refill the bottles. We have to raise quite a bit of money for that, but we already have 20 businesses on board and ready to sell them once we’re up and running. Ideally, we’d love to see these bottles everywhere in Savannah where plastic bottles are sold.”

Katie tells me with a smile, “I’ll tell everyone — this place is my life. It’s been a challenge, but I love it. I’m also on the board for the Downtown Business Association, and I lead the sustainability committee there. The goal is to always do more than just the store. I think big group changes need to happen in this town.”

So while being connected with local government, Lite Foot Company makes sustainability attainable and approachable for individuals too. “I feel like eventually systems need to change for true change to happen.”

Lite Foot is not just a refillery. It is a multi-layered experience full of soul. A love letter to Savannah and to the environment, constantly being written and rewritten.

Katie shares a message for Savannah: “We have too much plastic, and we need less. Quoting the Zero Waste Chef, ‘We don’t need one person doing zero waste perfectly. We need a million people doing zero-waste imperfectly.’ That’s what I really try to portray here — especially in a town that has so few resources for it. I’m trying to provide a space for small changes that lead to big results.”

Come meet her and Neville. Lite Foot Company supports an ecosystem of small businesses — it’s beautiful and deeply significant.

Love always,

Vanessa

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