Please note, it is with great sadness that we’ve had to close our beautiful retail store. You can keep up to date with Lyttleton’s story in our Blog

Our Story

Lyttleton Stores Co-operative is a not-for-profit community enterprise in Lawson in the Blue Mountains. We are a collective of people, combining our loves of organic home grown food and artisan made craft ware. Our mission is to connect customers, makers, and growers, encouraging conscious, ethical, local economies as well as transitioning to a no-waste, lower energy future.

Although we started out as a family partnership in 2015, the intention was to become a cooperative as our community grew. The transition to a co-operative occurred during 2018 through initiatives such as our crowd funding campaign, workshops, open gardens, exhibitions and pop up dinners. We have established connections with local teachers, makers, growers, gardeners, artists and customers who have become our community.

In 2023 Lyttleton Stores entered a new phase of co-operative existence, welcoming RoseyRavelston Books into our community, to form a shared retail space within the heritage Lyttleton building - read more about these changes here.

We believe that a sustainable future involves a secure food system, creativity and adaptability, health and wellbeing, as well as a thriving localised economy.

Our History 

Lyttleton Stores Co-operative is set in the oldest part of Lawson’s shopping district, in a building dating back to 1884, beautifully utilised as a produce store early on and then over time and many changes of hands becoming a country antiques store selling wonderful hand made wares from the past. We seek to bring this combination of Lawson’s history and our own life history together as Lyttleton Stores Co-operative, a hub of creativity and culture, food and community.

The Name

Lyttleton is a historic story; it was the name given to the building by the first owner/builder John Geggie, in honour of his wife’s maiden name Lyttle. This space has always been used as shops for the north side of Lawson, with the residence and garden an honest old time way to live and work in a small town.

We believe in:

• Honouring organically grown food and the effort it takes to produce it, creating sustainable livelihoods for independent growers of organic produce, and encouraging people form the community to grow their own organic produce.

• Supporting artisans and artists who make pieces by hand crafted with love, preserving the knowledge of artisans developed over generations and who make environmentally conscious pieces and art.

• Building a community through the sharing of knowledge, skills and crafts by providing a space for people to teach and learn together. Skill sharing and work sharing make tasks that can be a chore to do alone, such as bottling tomatoes at summers end, become a sociable and fun way to learn and practice skills in preserving. Learning a skill increases the value people feel for the work, there is understanding of the time, process and dedication required to create these unique and beautiful products.

• Having a positive impact on the environment rather than a negative one. We are a low to zero-waste facility, and we encourage both our producers and customers to opt for products stocked in bulk, reusable or recyclable packaging. We are self-sufficient with solar power and rainwater as well as producing much of our own fresh produce.