The owners of Ground Waves West are Bruce and Erin Hirst. Their business had operated Ground Waves Gift Store in Perth, Ontario prior to fleeing to Madeira Park British Columbia. While located in Perth, Mr. and Mrs. Hirst solicited from dozens of families the production of 428 handcrafted artisanal items for their business, promising payment for their work. These items were delivered in good faith and for four years no payment of any kind has ever been made. We have made every effort to work with Mr. and Mrs. Hirst only to receive lies, mis-directions, obfuscation and their eventual disappearance. Their store oddly, although not oddly, has no telephone. We are not unique in this circumstance as we are aware of other entities having been abused in a similar fashion by the co-owners-enablers Bruce and Erin Hirst.
We can document our statements and the sorry history of our interactions with Mr. and Mrs. Hirst and their business. We very much hope this forewarns the public regarding serious concerns about the business practices at Ground Waves West and their commitment to ethical sourcing.
Costello International is one of the 16 founding members of the North American Fair Trade Federation. Our mission for the past 55 years has been to maintain a marketplace for the handcrafts of indigenous Nahua farmer/artisans living in Guerrero, Mexico. read more