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New soap boutique ready for busy holiday season

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Anyone who has walked around the Arizona Boardwalk may have noticed a sweet scent coming from the newly opened Soap Bubble Boutique.

The Soap Bubble Boutique opened in June in the former space of Vitality Oxygen Bar and has blown its customers away with its array of locally grown and crafted soaps, bath bombs and several other goodies.

“Our products are 95% to 100% organic and all-natural. They won’t have any microplastics in them and they won’t have artificial colors or sense, which means everything in here should not stain your body, your skin or your tubs,” said store manager Nala Kahamphasithivong. “Something that we worked on with all of these is they’re biodegradable, so nothing should get stuck in the tubs and nothing should create any issues.”

In addition to sourcing products that are organic and biodegradable, Soap Bubble Boutique has a selection of products that are locally crafted.

“With the local vendors making them they make them either with pure shea butter or pure coconut oil, they’ll have just pure plain ingredients straight from the source,” Kahamphasithivong said.

Kahamphasithivong says she found most of her suppliers through local markets or through relationships that vendors had with other shops that call Arizona Boardwalk home.

“I met a lot of them at markets and some of the vendors are close friends with some of the tenants around here

Nala Kahamphasithivong manages The Soap Bubble, which just opened on the

Arizona Boardwalk. (David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer) ��SOAP �� 23

Scottsdale �irm memorializes Beatles with coin

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

When The Beatles unveiled their 1968 animated �ilm, “Yellow Submarine” the �ilm was quickly immortalized with art, toy versions of the submarine and now, nearly �ive and a half decades later, a limited-edition coin.

Scottsdale-based The Crown Mint — an independent �irm that develops products and packaging for the collectibles industry — recently announced it is selling 24kt pure gold or .999 silver coins shaped like the iconic yellow submarine in four weights and sizes. The coins are currently available for pre-sale on crownmint.com

“The Beatles are probably the most in-

Crown Mint Principal Steven Harris holds up his company’s new collectible coin that honors The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.

(David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer) �luential band in the history of rock and roll so it was a pretty obvious choice,” Crown Mint principal Steven Harris said. “There are a lot of coin companies from around the world that went after that license for a long time and at one point, we were in direct competition with the Royal Mint — the company that produces circulating coins in the UK,” Harris said. “So, it’s a pretty big deal to have gotten that license over everybody else that’s been after it.”

It was also something of a dream come true for him.

Harris remembers sifting through pocket change alongside his father, looking for silver dimes and quarters. He ��BEATLES �� 24

23 One Medical modernizes primary care for seniors

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One Medical in Arizona has opened a modernized primary care practice with four Valley locations, including Biltmore, Kierland Commons, SanTan Village and Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Its mission is to make quality care more affordable, accessible, and enjoyable and is a practice designed around aging patients.

Memberships cost $199 a year and make it easy for patients to get care when and where they need it through the One Medical app and website.

At no additional cost, virtual care services include year-round on-demand video chats with no copays, provider messaging for follow-up questions and needs, easy prescription renewals and convenient access to lab results, specialty referrals, vaccine records, prescription details and more.

“One Medical seniors expands our ability to serve more seniors with our shared focus on delivering exceptional primary care through an accessible, high-quality approach with an integrated 24/7 telehealth and in-of�ice care experience,” said Dr. Giovani Michieli.

“We do have members of our technical support team that can help our senior patients as well as the local team that is willing to ensure seniors are set up for success with their membership.” “Through our 24/7 virtual care services and same and next-day appointments, One Medical helps our patients avoid expensive emergency, hospital or specialty care,” said Michieli.

One Medical accepts most major insurance plans and bills for services through personal insurance.

Information: Onemedical.com

SOAP �� 21

too,” she said.

“A lot of us have used their products and so when we got this started, we thought ‘We already know we use and love them, so why not ask them and see if we could buy products from them wholesale to feature in the store and help them get a bigger spotlight?’”

Stocking up on locally made products has proved to be successful for the Soap Bubble Boutique and Kahamphasithivong has already noticed these products fly off the shelves – particularly among people who are getting a head start on their holiday shopping.

“We have tons of people gearing up for the holiday season already,” Kahamphasithivong said. “So, it’s a good store for people looking for wedding season, birthdays around the corner and then the coming holiday season.”

Kahamphasithivong said she is talking with vendors about stocking up for the holiday season early, especially after noticing that there were challenges when opening the store with sourcing products and tracking down deliveries.

“Shipping delays were one thing for us when we were getting the store started,” she said. “It was a lot of having to track down where some shipments have gone and being in Arizona, it was really scary to me because we don’t know if the products had melted on the way here.”

Because of this, Kahamphasithivong is doing everything she can to ensure that her shelves and bins scattered about the store stay full for customers.

“We want to make sure that we would have products before that holiday season came so that we can avoid those shipping issues,” she said.

Not only does Kahamphasithivong hope to maintain full supply, but she also plans to alter some of the products she offers to keep up with the

��SOAP �� 24

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started The Crown Mint in 2008, looking for ways re-introduce younger people to coin collecting.

“These days, people don’t carry a lot of pocket change, so there isn’t that touchstone,” Harris said. “My thought was, ‘This is a really neat hobby, how do we get it and direct it towards a younger audience?’ I then thought pop culture is a good tool that could work and so far, it has.” The �irst coins rolled out in 2013 and were authentic, legal tender coins based on the Star Wars �ilms. With them, the Crown Mint became the �irst company in the world to produce a legal tender coin that featured a major Hollywood property.

Since then, The Crown Mint has produced coins in conjunction with Coca-Cola, Marvel and The Rolling Stones before venturing into a yellow submarine and taking on the world of The Beatles this year.

“Ideally, we’re trying to get a younger group into collecting coins but in reality, we’re trying to get anybody into collecting coins,” Harris said. “So, you have to look at things that people are passionate about and one of those things certainly is music.”

When Harris began targeting music fans, there were two bands he eyed: The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

“If you ask people, ‘What are the two biggest rock and roll bands ever?’ I think the Beatles would certainly come up and I believe the Rolling Stones would also come up. So those were two groups that we targeted,” he explained.

However, The Beatles turned out to be more of a challenge than he anticipated.

The Crown Mint had to partner with Apple Corps Ltd. – the conglomerate company created by the band in1968 that controls The Beatles Property and is still owned by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to this day.

That wasn’t the only company that The Mint Collective had to persuade to make the vision of the Yellow Submarine coin a reality.

The deal had to also be brokered by Sony’s Thread Shop, the Beatles’ North American licensing agent.

However, once the two entities saw the work that The Crown Mint had done with other entities, it seemed like a nobrainer.

With the project given the go-ahead, The Crown Mint got to work producing submarine-shaped coins out of either 24k pure gold or .999 silver embossed with a golden yellow submarine that looks identical to the one featured in the �ilm.

The coins are currently available for pre-sale in four options: One ounce of pure 24kt gold, 12 grams of pure 24kt gold, one ounce of pure .999 silver and 10 grams of pure .999 silver and orders are expected to begin shipping out as early as Sept. 16.

The coins are currently selling for $129.95 on crownmint.com.

With two of rock’s most famous acts already immortalized with authentic, legal-tender collectible coins, Harris teased that there could be another rock act that The Crown Mint pursues with its next set of coins.

However, Harris’ current focus is on giving fans of The Beatles a unique relic to add to their collection.

Information: Crownmint.com

seasons.

“I’ve already got a few holiday items and we plan on getting more in September so that we will have different gift box sets,” Kahamphasithivong said.

“We will have holiday-themed items and holiday-scented items as well and we made sure to pick those things before those seasons came so that we didn’t have to worry about not receiving them or not having the product that we wanted here.”

She said she also takes every chance she gets to inform customers about the wonders her products do for skin..

“We just want to make sure that people are really happy with what they’ve purchased is our main goal,” she said. “Whether it’s moisturizing your skin or it’s helping detoxify it, that’s something we strive for.”

The Soap Bubble Boutique is located at 9500 E. Vía de Ventura Suite D-100. Information: AZBoardwalk.com

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