Dishwashing debut

Founder of Ecostore Aucklander Malcolm Rands has put his household cleaning product range on the shelves in U.S. chain Meijer Inc.’s 185 stores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Rands wants to move the production from New Zealand to Michigan for products sold at Meijer stores. “We are looking hard to find the right factory. The premises have to be eco-friendly,” Rands said. Ecostore was hatched in 1993 as a mail order business, when Rands and his wife, Melanie, began mixing soaps and detergents for organic gardeners like themselves from their home in a town near Auckland. Last year, he raised the capital to enter the U.S. market by licensing the brand to investors but continues to manage the brand. Ecostore also exports to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea.