Sustain M.E. Finalizes Its Transition!

What began in 2021 as the second location of Lufka Refillables Zero Waste Store has officially been transitioned to Sustain M.E., which offers a similar variety of “green” & refillable products.

Co-owners Gail Strickland & her daughter Danielle Howard, who have stocked the store with an all-new, locally sourced variety of eco-friendly products, held their North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting on Nov 14.

Look for the story in the Nov 28 edition of Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News!

Clean Up Your Life With Toxin-Free Products At LĂŒfka



When you visit LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, you’ll meet co-owner Gail Sickler, herbalist Megan Davis and co-owner Danielle Howard. (Photos by Charmaine George)

LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store, a new store specializing in natural, chemical-free, refillable, zero-waste products, is more than just a business for owner Danielle Howard.

It’s a way of life.

After growing up with a number of maladies, Danielle says she set out on a journey to find a way to live cleanly. That led to her owning two Salt Room businesses — one in Wesley Chapel and the other at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills — and now LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store, which is located on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, a few doors down from Capital Tacos.

While Danielle says The Salt Room Wesley Chapel and the Salt Room at SVB specialize in halotherapy, which involves breathing salty air in order to help respiratory conditions like asthma, bronchitis and allergies, LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store takes a more expansive approach to the benefits and solutions of keeping one’s body and home environment clean.

“I can help them from the inside out,” Danielle says. “LĂŒfka helps their cleaning, and their laundry, and all the stuff they put on their bodies. This is for people who want to make a difference and are also conscious of what those chemicals are doing.”

Whether it’s better choices for toothpaste, hand-crafted soaps, deodorant or laundry detergent, skin and after-shave lotions and even cleaning sprays, she says, LĂŒfka offers the healthiest options made with the best ingredients. 

And, while they can help make you healthier, they help the environment as well. Most LĂŒfka products come in glass containers, and you are encouraged to bring them back to have them refilled. Customers also are encouraged to bring containers of their own.

It’s no accident that when you first walk in the store, a table of both air and body sprays is one of the first things you see. Room deodorants are one of the biggest offenders when it comes to containing hazardous toxins, so Danielle and her co-owner and mom Gail Sickler are quick to point out safer alternatives that aren’t afraid to show exactly what they are made of to customers.

The five glass jugs of spray deodorants — Autumn Wood, Vanilla Bean Spice, Cranberry Orange Spice, Pumpkin Apple Butter, and Lavender & Tonka — all have labels listing all of their ingredients.

“This is the perfect example of our products,” Gail says. “You can use them to spray the room you are in, spray bedding if you are having guests over or, if you like it, you can use it as your body spray for the day. Just spray and walk through and it can land on your skin and doesn’t hurt anything because there’s nothing in there to hurt you.”

While perhaps more expensive than what you would get at a major store, Danielle says the products are worth every penny.

“If you do some research on a good, organic, clean, multi-functional spray, you’re looking at anywhere from $20-$40, and people will pay that,” she says. But, if you’re looking primarily for the cheapest stuff — say Glade Spray Air Fresheners that might be BOGO at Publix — Danielle says, “Well, we can’t help you. We can just let you know that this is something completely different.”

How It All Got Started

LĂŒfka Wesley Chapel is only the third LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste store in the Tampa Bay area. 

The concept was originally hatched by Kelly and Parosh Hawaii, who opened the original LĂŒfka in Seminole Heights in 2019, and a second store in South Tampa in November 2020.

Danielle was turned on to the store by a friend, and immediately fell in love with it. She recommended it to all of her clients at her Salt Rooms. The clients raved about the products, and in turn raved about Danielle, who was helping them at the Salt Rooms, to Kelly and Parosh. 

While they had thought of franchising before deciding against it, Kelly and Parosh liked Danielle enough — practically vetting her via all the clients she sent to their store — to suggest she open her own LĂŒfka store.

“Parosh told me he had been watching me, and saw that I was changing lives, and said he wanted me to open a place in Wesley Chapel,” says Danielle, who just happened to be thinking about opening another retail business at the time. “I started looking for places the second I left there.”

Danielle asked her mother if she wanted to be her partner and, in September, LĂŒfka Wesley Chapel held its North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon cutting.

“We love it and it goes with everything we do,” Danielle says. “I really felt like Wesley Chapel needed this.”

What’s In A Name?

So, what is a LĂŒfka? A wash cloth, which is handmade in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and has been around for thousands of years. Parosh is passionate about sharing ancient handmade Kurdish products with the world, hence the name of the store.

The women who weave the LĂŒfkas from Babylonian willow bark fibers receive all the proceeds from their sales at LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store. 

A LĂŒfka looks like a kitchen mitten, but serves as a wash cloth and can be opened so you can wash your back. Not only does it clean, but it also exfoliates the skin. Danielle says her skin is “as soft as a baby’s butt” when she’s done with hers, and Gail says the same.

Danielle takes the education part of her job seriously. While the average person is likely to think all natural products are more expensive and less effective, LĂŒfka has hundreds of products that work just as well as their chemical-filled counterparts and are priced competitively, according to Danielle. 

You aren’t just choosing with your wallet, however. The laundry detergents at LĂŒfka, for example, have just a handful of chemical-free ingredients, compared to the 200 or so ingredients, mostly chemicals, in regular detergents.

The same goes for LĂŒfka’s regular soaps and shampoos, toothpaste, body and facial lotions and deodorant.

“There are so many chemicals that you put on your body for the whole day, and your skin absorbs all of it,” Danielle says. “Everything in here is better for you than what you are probably using, and it’s better for the environment, too.”

For people with autoimmune diseases and sensitive skin and/or sense of smell, the distinction between LĂŒfka products and those that aren’t chemical- and toxin-free is significant.

While deodorant is the store’s best seller, pet products also are very popular. Pet soap is a big one, due to skin issues, as well as other products, such as food-grade diatomaceous earth, which is a safe alternative to anti-flea products, which are some of the most toxin-filled products on the market.

Gail says local hikers come in to purchase the toxin-free bug spray (which lacks the chemicals that give regular bug spray its stickiness) and there is all-natural sunscreen as well as the ingredients needed (like apple cider vinegar, olive oil and vegetable glycerin) for those who want to make their own cleaners and soaps.

Megan Davis is LĂŒfka’s herbalist, and can help explain the uses and combinations of the herbs and other ingredients that line one wall of the store — like combining the bladderwrack and sea moss into an apple sauce-like paste that can be consumed and contains 102 trace minerals that your body needs.

However, no one at LĂŒfka is able to provide medical advice, and they do not sell food, although they might recommend some spirulina or turmeric for your morning smoothie.

Danielle hopes to send customers out on the same journey she is on — to eliminate the chemicals her body is ingesting in regular daily products.

There is some trial and error, she says, and everyone is different. But, for many of the things that ail you, like sores or rashes or just malaise, there might be a healthy option to solve it.

“It can change your life,” Danielle says. “It has definitely changed mine.”

For more information, look up @LĂŒfkaWesleyChapel on Facebook, where you can find specials, candle-making classes and even private shopping events if you’re interested in transitioning to healthier products. LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store is located at 27221 S.R. 56. and is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday and it is closed on Sunday and Monday. To find out more, call (813) 596-9376 or visit LĂŒfka.com.

Nibbles & Bytes: Sushi, Pizza and Healthy Items Highlight New Businesses

Pick Of The Week 1: Blue Fin Japanese Restaurant!
For those who complain about all of the chain restaurants that have opened in Wesley Chapel, one thing you should realize is that already we have quite a few excellent non-chain Japanese places — and you can add one more to that already-impressive list.

Blue Fin Japanese Restaurant has finally opened at 6034 Wesley Grove Blvd., next to Treble Makers in The Grove, and offers great Japanese specialties, from a huge assortment of sushi rolls to the excellent gyoza dumplings pictured top left (and other appetizers), to large portions of chicken teriyaki with fresh veggies, hibachi (but not prepared tableside) filet mignon and many more. It is open every day for lunch and dinner and serves beer, wine and sake.

For more info, call (813) 803-4709 and please tell Lawrence, the owner, that I sent you. — GN

Windy City Pizza Replaces Full Circle Pizza In Pebble Creek!
If you’re a fan of authentic deep-dish Chicago-style pizza but you haven’t yet tried the new Windy Cindy Pizza that opened recently in the former Pebble Creek Collection location (at 19651 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in New Tampa, a mile or so south of the Pasco County line) of Full Circle Pizza — what are you waiting for? I brought the large Chicago deep dish pie with pepperoni & sausage pictured above to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus & everyone raved. I’m not from Chicago, but this deep dish is legit! 

Tim and Matt, the owners, are both originally from Chicago (and previously owned Windy City on N. 30th St., near USF, and promise that their deep-dish and thin-crust Chicago pizza is authentic, as are the Chicago Italian beef sandwich and Windy City nuggets (fried homemade pizza dough served with pizza dipping sauce) and more. 

For more info, call (813) 388-5844 or visit OrderWindyCityPizza.com. —  GN 

It’s Chick’n, Not Cluckin’
Last issue, we told you that the former location of Hardee’s on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (next to Goodyear Auto Service) was going to be come a new chicken restaurant called Cluckin’ Fun, but we were only half-right.

The banner sign that had been up came down because the building was being re-painted, but according to the leasing agent, the new non-chain fried chicken place will actually be called Chick’n Fun, and also said that it should be ready to open within the next 45 days. — GN

LĂŒfka Refillables Hosts A Chamber Ribbon Cutting!
Congratulations to co-owners Danielle Howard (right in photo) and her mom Gail Sickler (center), who hosted a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event on Sept. 23 at their new Wesley Chapel location of LĂŒfka Refillables Zero Waste Store at 27221 S.R. 56. 

LĂŒfka, founded by Kelly Hawaii (left) and her husband Parosh in Seminole Heights in 2019, offers eco-friendly personal care (Jannah loved the handcrafted soap I bought for her) and cleaning products, including many refillable and zero-waste items.

For info, call (813) 596-9376 or visit lufka.com. — GN 

Pick Of The Week 2: Green Market Cafe!
Located next door to LĂŒfka (at 27225 S.R. 56) is the sixth location of a Tampa Bay-area chain called Green Market Cafe.

Green Market definitely could have been included in our most recent issue’s “Healthy Food & Drink” story, with its menu of salads (like the almond chicken salad in the first photo), healthy bowls, wrap and other sandwiches, house-made soups (like the excellent spinach feta soup Jannah and I sampled recently) and unique drink options like Kombucha and CBD-infused water.

Green Market Cafe makes it easy to order, whether online (with pick-up and delivery options), at the self-service kiosk inside the store or at the counter, and proudly proclaims that all locations buy their produce “directly from the source — our local farmers. We strive for balanced nutrition…and wholesome ingredients free of hormones and preservatives — all at affordable prices.” For more info, call (813) 803-4590 or visit visit GreenMarketCafe.com for the current specials. — GN

Business Notes: Refillables In WC

Bar manager Ashley Simon waits for a 32-oz. growler to finish filling at the Bru Florida Growler Bar. (Photos: John C. Cotey)

The area’s craft beer options continue to grow.

Bru Florida Growler Bar held its Grand Opening last week.

Located in the space previously occupied by Buttermilk Provisions across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, Bru Florida Growler Bar had been open with limited hours for about six weeks.

Customers are welcome to come in and enjoy a pint or two of beer, cider, kombucha or even nitro beer and coffee. They also can get all those things to go in 32- and 64-oz. growlers, which owner Christian Brugal says is part of the reason he opened his first Bru Florida Growler Bar in Citrus Park a few years ago — offering the convenience of bringing craft beer home for those who don’t have time (or don’t want) to sit in a bar. 

Brugal says that many craft breweries don’t bottle or can their beer and only sell it from kegs.

While getting growlers filled is now available at most bars, it typically involves just filling the growler from the bar’s beer tap. But, Bru Florida Growler Bar is a rarity in that it has three counter-pressure growler stations, which helps extend the to-go beer’s freshness. Bar, manager Ashley Simon (photo on previous page) says a sealed growler can retain its freshness for a month; otherwise, once opened, it only lasts a day or two.

Meanwhile, Brugal says another unique aspect of the new bar is its emphasis on local beer. While other brewpubs and bars carry local and other craft beers, Bru Florida Growler Bar only carries Florida-brewed beers. “We’re the only ones who do that,” says Brugal.

On the day we strolled in, there were 15 beers on tap, from breweries located all over the state, like Jupiter, Royal Palm Beach, Dania Beach, Orlando, Miami and Tallahassee. Also represented were Dunedin, St. Petersburg, Brooksville, as well as Wesley Chapel’s Double Branch Artisanal Ales. New beers from new breweries in different Florida cities are rotated in and out. For more information, visit at BruFL.com or call (813) 328-4721.

FILL ME UP PART II: The Walmart Supercenter is filling its parking lot right off BBD with a new 16-pump fuel center and a 1,605-sq.-ft. convenience store. If stocked like previously built Walmart fuel centers, the convenience store will offer your typical fare of grab-and-go deli items, snacks, cold beverages, a walk-in beer cooler and coffee.

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, visit the Lufka Wesley Chapel refillables store in the Cypress View Square plaza on S.R. 56.

LUFKA IS OPEN!: Speaking of bringing in your own container to get it filled with your favorite stuff, a new concept to Wesley Chapel is now open at the Cypress View Square plaza on S.R. 56 (home to the popular Capital Tacos).

Lufka Refillables Zero Waste Store has taken over the space in Cypress View Square formerly occupied by E’s Barber Shop at 27221 S.R. 56.

Lufka was originally created by Tampa’s Kelly Hawaii and her husband Parosh. They opened their first store in Seminole Heights in the summer of 2019, and their second store in South Tampa in November of 2020.

Wesley Chapel’s Danielle Howard, who also owns The Salt Room in Wesley Chapel (2718 Windguard Cir.) and at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills, co-owns the Wesley Chapel Lufka with her mother Gail Howard. “Danielle discovered it, and I just jumped in,” Gail says. “Now I get to work with my daughter.” 

Essentially, Lufka (Polish for “Barrel”) is where you can bring in your empty containers of household cleaning, bathroom and laundry products, to name a few, and have them refilled at the store, which bills itself as Tampa’s first “refillable, eco-friendly and sustainable bath, body, kitchen and D.I.Y. supplies company.”

The store has everything from laundry detergents to shampoos and conditioners, and from after-shave lotions to facial scrubs and from body lotions to a variety of soaps. Most of the products are organic, but all of them are healthier than the alternatives you usually buy in traditional stores, and come without a long list of chemical ingredients. 

Lufka encourages reducing your carbon footprint by reusing and refilling containers with eco-friendly products.

Although it is currently open, Lufka Wesley Chapel is hoping to schedule a Grand Opening later this month. 

For more info, call (813) 596-9376 or visit Lufka.com.

MORE BOWLS?: Also moving into Cypress View Square is Green Market Café, which is taking over the old Batter & Dough space at 27225 S.R. 56. Green Market Cafe offers a variety of healthy bowls, salads and wraps, as well as soups and frozen yogurt, all of which is locally sourced and affordable. It already has locations in Trinity, Clearwater, Seminole and Oldsmar. For more information, visit GreenMarketCafé.com.