A newcomer to Bowen, Sarah Yu Rutherford had a hunch there would be enough environmentally conscious people on Bowen who would make the effort to re-fill their household soaps to make a go of a store offering the service. After less than a year, she found she did not have the resources or time to put into the Soap Box (at Artisan Square) to keep it running. Fortunately, two of her best customers loved the store enough to buy it off her and move the concept forward.
“We moved here and March, this place opened in February, but we were so happy to be moving somewhere that had this kind of store,” says Cassandra Mazzner, the new owner of the Soap Box alongside her partner Michelle. “We were disappointed to hear it would be closing, so talked to Sarah about the possibility of taking over.”
Cassandra and Michelle say that they appreciate the concept, which allows them to reduce their footprint of plastic waste, as well as the sourcing - which aims to be as local as possible.
“I’ve started researching other products I would like to get on the shelves here, and it is a surprisingly huge undertaking requiring a lot of research,” says Michelle. “There are a lot of companies that say they are natural and good, but they just are not.”
Michelle adds that her research has brought up some interesting statistics. For example, only 17% of plastic that goes into the recycling actually gets recycled.
Cassandra, Michelle and Sarah have not yet sorted all the details of handing over the store, but say they will announce their new-opening date as soon as possible.
