Why Small Businesses Matter
Shop small, do big things for your community
Why Small Businesses Matter puts a spotlight on the local merchants who donate their time, talent, goods, and services for the betterment of our community. The shop local movement spreads virally as local businesses who are “tagged” have the opportunity to share their story!
You're IT Keep It Simple Soapery!
Four questions with Nicole GeorgaKIS, founder of Keep It Simple Soapery.
Why did you start your business?
I found store brand soap and skincare extremely irritating to my skin (as well as my family’s skin) due to the fact that they often contain harsh detergents, cheaply refined ingredients, and artificial fragrance. After many years of visits to the dermatologist for various skin conditions brought on by these irritants, I decided to research and create my own all-natural, plant-based, small-batch soap so that I could personally source only the highest quality organic, non-GMO, unrefined vegan butter and oils that each provide their natural skin benefits for various skin conditions.
I also use ingredients and packaging that are safe for the environment, as it is often forgotten that the skincare products we use either go down the drain and into the water sources around us or into landfills, polluting the water and damaging eco-systems.
I also discovered that many others were suffering from the same painful skin conditions I had experienced, so I established my woman-owned small business Keep It Simple Skincare in 2019 so that I could offer all-natural products to everyone that could benefit from using them as much as we do!
What is your best-selling product/service?
Our best-selling all-natural soaps are our Cedarwood Leather Vanilla Body Bar, Sandalwood Vanilla Body Bar, Black Rock Body Bar (a favorite in this community for its name and its purpose!) AND for our canine family members our very popular Pupcare Dog Shampoo Bar - each crafted with our propriety blend of organic oils and butter, but with the addition of organic activated charcoal that deep cleans skin without over-drying!
I have recently partnered with Black Rock based Wicked Wires & Wax for beautiful soy-based “Intention Candles” that contain gemstones and flowers, a Black Rock Based woodworking business, Modern Wood Products, to create cedar and mahogany soap dishes, and an NYC-based artist Made By Keeper for one of a kind, incredibly soft tie-dyed towels. I plan to expand my brand to work with more local businesses as my product line expands.
Have you "reimagined" your small business?
During Covid, we had no choice but to reimagine our small business. We went from having a fully booked event schedule to depending only on website sales at kisbotanicals.com when in-person events were all canceled. As Covid continued, we were lucky to be one of the first 10 vendors to join the brand new outdoor winter Shakespeare market in Stratford, the only one of its kind during the pandemic. It was a huge success, which led us to open a shop at Captains Cove Seaport in Black Rock for the 2021 season.
In late February 2022, we opened a permanent retail store in downtown Fairfield at 43 Unquowa Road (next to Catch A Healthy Habit) where we offer everything bath & body, such as all-natural soaps, a variety of real sea sponges from the Gulf of Mexico, and Greece, bath soaks, face masks, sunblock, body butter, bug sprays, towels, candles, and much more. We offer local delivery for gift baskets and plan to have in-store demonstrations and the ability to “make your own” products, such as a facemask-making bar, and will be offering bath bombs and other fun “DIY” parties.
Keep It Simple Soapery is located at 43 Unquowa Road in Fairfield. Visit Keep It Simple Soapery online here, and make sure to check out their Facebook and Instagram pages as well!
HamletHub thanks Fairfield County Bank for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!