We were lucky to catch up with Amy Harmon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amy , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?

I spent a decade at a locally-owned natural market, Mama Jean’s, in Springfield, MO, eventually growing into the marketing director role. One of the most important lessons I learned during my time there was the importance of developing deep, meaningful relationships with customers. It wasn’t just about generating sales; the owners saw the store as a community institution. It was a resource for people, whether they were looking for information about specific dietary needs, a particular supplement or just choosing to shop there because they felt like they were part of something bigger than just a grocery store.

That’s something we work really hard to do at Soap & Supply. We’re in the business of relationship building, and we’ve become a resource for the community. I’ve gotten to know so many of our customers over the years.

Another takeaway from my time at Mama Jean’s was the understanding that to be a part of the community you have to serve the entire community, not just a particular demographic. The owners made it a priority to carry quality, affordable products so that nobody ever felt excluded from a healthy diet and lifestyle because of their income. That’s why it’s so important to me that our store carries multiple options for products, so that reducing single-use plastic waste and having high-quality, plant-based products is available to everyone.

Amy , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

At its core, Soap & Supply is here to help you reduce single-use plastic waste. We sell laundry soap, dish soap, hair care products, body lotion, beauty care, etc. in bulk. Customers bring in clean containers, and we refill it for them. And we serve everyone, whether it’s someone 100 percent committed to zero-waste living or someone who just wants to cut down on their plastic waste.

One thing we do that sets us apart is offer products at a variety of price points, because I don’t want anyone who wants to adopt this model to feel like they can’t afford it. I don’t want to alienate anyone. You can’t be a resource for the community if you’re only welcoming to a small portion of it.

I would also point to the quality of products we have, as well as a commitment to offering locally-made products where we can. We have a long list of local beauty products, like creams, cleansers, masks, toners, etc. Our shop recently developed a new line of plant-based laundry and dish soap with a manufacturer in Albuquerque, less than an hour away, at a very affordable price point, with plans to develop additional products down the road.

My staff and I are here to help people, which is another big difference between what Soap & Supply does versus the big, national retailers. A customer interaction, at our shop, isn’t just a transaction. We answer questions to help people find the right product to fit their needs–need a soap for sensitive skin? vegan products? the perfect shampoo for your hair type?–these are the conversations we have every day. And it’s really rewarding.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Word of mouth. We’ve spent money on advertising, and that’s certainly helped to grow the business. But the key to our success has been people telling their friends about us, bringing their family in to see the shop. What we do is so unique, there’s a curiosity factor that helps bring people in, and we make deeper connections with people with a sincere focus on customer service.

Santa Fe is small city and a very tight-knit community. People appreciate the local businesses here, and will actively seek them out over the Amazons and Targets.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The shop hadn’t even been open six months when the pandemic hit. We just so happened to be one of the last places in town that had any hand sanitizer left the week everything started to shut down. I still see a lot of those same people shopping with us who first came to our store on a panicked Friday trying to get sanitizer and hand soap before everything shut down.

We were able to stay open throughout the pandemic, despite the widespread shutdowns here in New Mexico. That really gave us to chance to build deeper, lasting relationships with the community. Heck, if nothing else, people had a place they could go and interact with other human beings.

Another thing COVID forced us to do was make some operational changes to the business that have actually been a big help beyond that period. When we first opened, it was self-service, but we changed over to full-service refills during the pandemic to help with social distancing. Through that, we found that using the full-service model was much easier for us, helping to cut down on waste from spillage and making it a much easier experience overall for customers. It gave us another contact point with people coming into the shop, a chance to tell them our story and to help them find the right product.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.soapsantafe.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soapsantafe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soapsantafe/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/soap-and-supply-refill-beauty-bar-santa-fe

Image Credits

Kerry Kehoe Photography