Naturally

Naturally
                        
Ten years ago, Shane Cultice washed his hands of the corporate world and started making and wholesaling soap with his wife, Tracy. In March, the couple opened their fourth Amish Country Essentials shop in downtown Wooster.
It is the latest expansion of the family-owned business that sells homemade soaps, lotions and other natural products that keep bodies clean, soft and comfortable.
Cultice admits that he didn’t expect the business to grow as fast as it has. Although he had been making soap as a hobby since he was a boy, he was skeptical that there would be enough demand to make it a livelihood.
“What we’ve found is that ours is not a niche product,” he said. “We provide premium products for people who prefer natural skin care, but we don’t charge a premium price for them.”
Cultice was working 60 to 70 hours a week as a “troubleshooter” for a retail chain when he and his wife realized his job wasn’t conducive to family life.
“We wanted to find something we could do together,” he said. “We looked at our skill sets, considered our options, and, although I was resistant at first, soap seemed to make the most sense.”
That’s partly because Cultice’s family, he said, had been making its own soap since 1762. Cultice’s grandmother, a Cherokee, began to teach him the craft when he was 12 years old. He became fascinated with it, and it became a hobby. But he didn’t realize that years later it would become a flourishing business.
“Early on, we focused only on soap,” Cultice said. “We have an extensive number of recipes that originated in the family. We started with more than 15 different recipes that served specific purposes for the skin, such as soaps that were good for acne, psoriasis, eczema and rosacia, soaps that removed grease, oil, grime, carbon, coal dust and wood stain, and a wonderful product that moisturizes and rebalances the skin's pH.”
The soap is strong enough to clean effectively, but gentle enough to use on newborn babies, Cultice said. It was an immediate hit, which encouraged Cultice to expand into homemade lotions and balms. One was Grandma Porter’s original chickweed salve, which relieves the pain and itchiness of insect bites, burns, rashes and poison ivy along with inflammation.
At first, Cultice said, the couples’ products were sold wholesale and at trade shows. Online sales are now shipped all over the world. It was his wife’s idea to open a retail store.
“It was a big step and I was hesitant to do it,” Cultice said.
But in 2008 the couple opened their first shop in Millersburg.
“What surprised me was that our wholesale business grew because of our retail presence,” he said. “I think a public location made us legitimate in the eyes of the consumers.”
So legitimate, in fact, that they outgrew their shop.
“The store would only hold so much product, so we looked at some additional locations,” Cultice said. “We found the perfect fit in Berlin, right next to Nature’s Food Market. Since then, we’ve never looked back.”
The new Wooster store is the couple’s largest.
“It’s a beautiful shop with built-in birch cabinets,” Cultice said. “It’s like the store was built for our products. And the location offers easy access to our Medina customers.”
Along with natural lotions, balms, shampoos, moisturizers and 40 different natural soaps – including foaming soaps — the store carries products like wash cloths, diffusers, shaving accessories and natural pet grooming supplies. But if customers can’t make it into the store, online ordering is a breeze. Orders of $35 or more ship free every day.
People can treat their skin to healthy, natural soaps and lotions by visiting Amish Country Essentials at 156 E. Liberty St. in Wooster. Call the shop at 330-601-0775, or find more information, including store hours, at www.AmishCountryEssentials.com.


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