DOVER, Minn. — Growing up in Rewey, Wis., Shanna McCann always envisioned herself as a farmwife. But these days, she's instead a successful entrepreneur selling goat milk soap in a store in Dover, Minn., at farmers markets and at retailers throughout the state.
"It's me and my two blenders," McCann said of her production in the basement workshop of her 600-square-foot retail space on Dover's main street. "I love the process. And the fact that I'm making it with my own hands. From start to finish, you get to witness the raw goods suddenly becoming a bar of soap. It's pretty cool."
McCann got her start in 2009, working then from her kitchen. A friend taught her how to make soap, and she added goat's milk as a key ingredient, as well as formulated her own, simple recipe. Her business name — Simple Soaps for Simple Folks — was born as she realized that basic, high-quality soap is what she strived to make and offer to people.
And it worked. These days, McCann operates a bustling shop as well as has customers as far flung as rGeorgia, Arizona, New York and even Japan and Germany.
Who would __have thought a soap shop in Dover would be so successful? McCann laughed at the question.
"I pull people from Rochester and Winona," she said. "It's a short trip. My Winona people will stop here on their way to Rochester. My Rochester people will swing out for giggles, and to see a small town. A lot of people come here because you can see every scent that's available. Rarely in another retail market can you see my whole line."
McCann also uses excess shop space to display wares from rotating vendors. Items include jewelry, candles, scarves, headbands and paintings. "I had space and so I decided, what better way to integrate the community into the shop than to share my space with local artisans?"
As for her signature line of goat milk soaps, McCann tends to, nurtures and milks six goats -- Nellie, Willie, Shamrock, Lucy, Bella and Jess, just outside of Dover. The goats provide milk for McCann's 50 Simple Soaps for Simple Folks scents. Making the soap itself is a four- to six-week process, and don't be surprised to hear McCann rocking out to Katy Perry, Sam Smith, Phil Collins or the Indigo Girls while she works in the basement workshop.
McCann toils six days a week, putting hours in in the storefront during the week and hitting festivals and farmers market on the weekends. Her soaps can be found at the Rochester, Winona and Cameron Park farmers markets, as well as at seasonal festivals such as Thursdays on First in downtown Rochester.
But McCann's biggest sales breakthrough came just last month. A Simple Soaps for Simple Folks employee read about retailer Herberger's adopting a "go local" mindset. One thing led to another, and McCann recently shipped off a mammoth batch of soap for seven Minnesota Herberger's stores, including Rochester. "Today the district manager sent me an email that said, 'You've already sold soap!'" McCann said.
It's quite a ride for the former farm girl who never saw business in her future. All because she had a "massive influx of goat milk. I was making cheese, and yogurt and kefir, but I still had too much goat's milk,!" McCann said. "So after a friend showed me how to make soap, I thought, 'I can totally use goat milk.'" And she was off and running on what became her business.
In addition to moving fher operation from her home kitchen to the Dover storefront, McCann said her business has undergone other significant changes. Whereas she previously sold raw soaps wrapped with a ribbon, she now uses boxes as packaging. While she once weighed soaps to determine pricing, the soaps are now priced individually. She's also invested in a point of sale software system, accounting software system and SKUs. And she's gone from being a solo flyer to having two part-time staffers who help with the shop and market work.
As for the future, McCann has dreams. She ponders expanding to a second storefront in a bigger town. She also dreams of selling soap in more retailers near the Twin Cities.
With regard to production, something's gotta change, the entrepreneur said.
"I'm bottlenecked," McCann said. "And so it may come down to streamlining the process. It's just me (making the soap) and so, as my business grows, I'm going to __have to be creative."
Creativity she's got, so growth should be a non-issue.
