Giving Shoppers What They Love Soap and Candle Sales for the Fun of It

Victoria Elizabeth Thomas started The Pink Tub, her homemade toiletries business, when she couldn’t find the kind of natural, moisturizing products she wanted. Now her homemade facial soaps, lotions and bath bombs are favorites among Thomas’s Indianapolis clientele.

Pink Tub devotees love that the products come tailored to specific skin types, such as oily, dry or combination textured skin. They appreciate Thomas’s signature 5-5-3 method — five vitamins, five moisturizers and three antioxidants in every product, for maximum penetration and a rejuvenating glow.

But most of all, Thomas’s customers enjoy the social and sensory experience of a visit to The Pink Tub. “We’re very hands-on, a lot of demos,” explained Thomas. “The customers love that. I put on a great show for them, and it’s a crowd pleaser.”

Nearly three years into the pandemic, Americans are savoring the in-person shopping experience — especially for items like soaps, lotions and candles, whose scents and textures simply can’t be appreciated online. Toiletries retailers around the country interviewed for this article said their customers enjoy the social ritual of chatting about specific skin needs and fragrances while sampling wares.

“We let you see exactly what is going into your product,” explained Thomas, many of whose products cater to breast cancer survivors like herself. “We’ll let you take it test it out and take it home. We try to make it an incredible experience.”

In Collingswood, N.J., Cynthia Mosco’s 700-square-foot emporium is “big enough to see and try everything, but not so big that you get overwhelmed,” she noted.

Cynplicity Artisan Soap Co. specializes in bars crafted through cold processing, hot processing and French milled techniques from high quality natural oils and butters.

All of that matters to Mosco’s customers, who love her healthier,