While it is often argued that retailers, due to their strategically important position between production and consumption, have a key role to play in the promotion of sustainability (Gunn and Mont 2014, Fuentes 2011, Chkanikova and Lehner 2014, Chkanikova and Mont 2015), sustainable retail has only received scant academic attention in the past (Bansal and Kilbourne 2001, Chkanikova and Mont 2015). This is, however, beginning to change and there is now a growing body of work on sustainable retailing (Wiese et al. 2012). Previous studies have examined and discussed how sustainable retailing is and should be conducted via case studies of specific sustainable retailing initiatives and programmes (e.g., Lindgreen and Hingley 2003, Goworek 2011). Research in the field of sustainable retail has also addressed how retailers’ sustainability actions shape the perceptions, choices and practices of consumers (Gupta and Pirsch 2008, Kim et al. 2014, Williams et al. 2010). However, still largely missing from the field of sustainable retail are studies that examine the role that in-store service provision plays in the promotion of sustainability. While the work of the shop assistant is at times included in the analysis of green marketing, (Fuentes 2014a) or in sustainable consumption studies (Lehner 2015), the attention it receives in these studies is cursory. This deficiency is surprising given the prominent role that service is often attributed in retail studies more broadly (Brown and Dant 2009, Grewal and Levy 2009, Elms et al. 2010, Grewal and Levy 2007), and given the degree to which retailers now incorporate sustainability service practices.