FROM the outside, Sound Bites does not look a big-enough shop in which to swing a cat.
However, the size of the store takes you by surprise.
But swinging a cat would not be advisable, given one of the guiding principles behind the shop is caring for animals.
Founded in 2005, Sound Bites is a vegan wholefood shop that sells everything you would expect in a normal shop – except no animals were harmed in the making of the products. The store also makes sure that all of its foods are ethically produced, organic and come from sustainable sources.
All that may sound like it caters for a very narrow market of shoppers with deep pockets who can afford expensive food.
But that is not the case at Sound Bites.
Tim Almy, co-director of the shop, said: "There is no particular customer that comes into Sound Bites and I think that is a great thing.
"Because of the things we sell I think people may think that we only cater for middle-class people.
"But what I think we do is mirror the community around us and that is a really important thing."
Tim says that when people new to Sound Bites come into the store they are constantly surprised by the range on offer.
He said: "If I had a penny for every time that somebody has come looking for a bag of rice and then left with a whole shopping bag full of stuff, I would be a rich man.
"Our big sellers are bread, oats and rice, pulses and oats."
The price of those items are very competitive in comparison to the amount charged by the big supermarkets.
Tim said: "A lot of the items that we have we buy in and then pack ourselves.
"If you went to somewhere like Holland & Barrett and tried to buy the same things that you can get with us, you would be paying a huge amount more.
"But then people have been told over and over that independent shops are more expensive and they believe it.
"But recently there have been so many scares involving food, like the BSE crisis, that people want to go back to knowing where the food is coming from."
A lot of stores now trumpet their organic, local and ethical products, including the big supermarket chains.
But back at the beginning, organic food was seen as somewhat of a fad and Sound Bites was a trailblazer in many ways when they began nearly a decade ago.
Starting in the Market Hall in 2005, they moved to their current premises in 2006 and is a workers' cooperative as well as being not-for-profit.
Eight friends – Patrick Brown, Ruth Kelly, Ruth Strange, Graham Patient, Rosalind Pounder, Charlotte Flindall, Soesen Edan and Emma Warden – were behind the creation of the business.
The idea was that it would run as a not-for-profit business and that any surplus cash would be ploughed back into the business and provide lower prices for their customers.
Tim said: "Currently there are six of us who run the store, but all the original members have now left.
"We pay ourselves the minimum wage, although none of us work full-time at the shop. We all have other paid employment as well.
"We have part-time employees and we are very lucky that people also volunteer with us."
Each Friday the co-op members meet and discuss the business, new products that could be stocked and any other ideas that they have.
Out of this meeting came the Vegetable Pedallers scheme and the home delivery system.
Tim said: "The Pedallers scheme delivers fresh fruit and vegetables to elderly and disabled people by bike.
"It is well used but we would love for more people to take advantage of it.
"It is totally free but the people who use it must not be able to get out of the house.
"The other delivery system that we have is a van that can be fuelled by recycled vegetable oil.
"The bike can only deliver as far out as Darley Abbey. However, the van will deliver organic vegetable boxes to homes or businesses within a 10-mile radius of the shop."
With the success of the business, there have been plans to expand, though a lack of funding is beginning to affect the business.
Tim said: "We were looking into taking over the fish and chip shop next door but it seems that somebody is still paying the council tax so that wasn't able to be done.
"There was also talk of opening a shop in Belper but we are really limited in our time and resources. The other problem is that we have problems with funding as well.
"We used to have funding from Derby City Council as well as other sources, which have dried up.
"Our aim now is to make the Sound Bites shop as good as it is possible to be and give our customers the best possible service."
