The other day, I was talking to a young lady, Anita, who sells soap in one of our shops. The week before, we had introduced our new “ARTISAN” SOAP LINE, and Gary had created an exciting new window display.
I asked how the new soaps were doing, and Anita replied that they were going really well. People were noticing the window display, which “stopped them in their tracks,” and many came in to see the new line.
The soaps were a bit more expensive…because the cost
of our oils had gone up, shipping had gone up a lot, and we had added
organic oil to them….and used only 100% Pure Essential oils.
Would people pay $1 more for a good hand-made natural all-vegetable soap?
“If I don’t bring my lunch,” said Anita, “I go over to the cafe where
I can get natural and organic food, the coffee shop is great, too, andI notice more and more people are going there.”Then, she added a line which I thought was GREAT!! And so, I’m passing it along!
“People are killing themselves by making cheap choices,” she said.
What a perfect concept! CHEAP CHOICES!!! The bookstores are full of books about ‘industrial food.’ Magazines are full of articles about organic foods
shipped from Chile, or China???? and where and how to ‘buy local.’
We’re not buying coffee in the big cheap 2# tin anymore, and we’re buying
local, organic eggs, and becoming “locavores” instead. A loaf of bread
used to have four ingredients; wheat, salt, flour, and water. Maybe the
water doesn’t count. A recent book listed about 40 ingredients in a
manufactured bread. Want to eat “azodicarbonamide?”
Now, it’s time to spend a little more on our personal care, right? How
about a soap with four ingredients?? I thought of calling the new line,
“Local Soaps.” If most people knew what was in the bar of ’soap’ they
showered with each a.m., they wouldn’t use it! More about this next time.
Why use an “Artisan” soap? It has just a few ingredients; a combination
of food-grade oils; coconut, palm, olive, soy, usually 2 or 3 essential
oils, and sometimes, for a little scrub, some crushed oats, bran or tea
leaves. Gary makes them all by hand, a small batch each day. They are hand-cut the
next day…and after 3-4 weeks curing time, they are hand-wrapped by Claire
and Heather.
It’s our answer to ‘CHEAP CHOICES’ and you can buy some today!
Thanks, Anita….
By for now…
Linda Quiring
