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The
sweet smell of success
Here's what The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin said about us.
The Soap Opera® celebrating its 25th year
By Patrice Wendling
If rebels stay with something long enough, even they become part of the
establishment.
Soap Opera proprietors Chuck Bauer and Chuck Beckwith began selling soaps
and toiletries out of an old, wooden dresser, strapped on to roller skates and covered
with a chintz canopy. The drawers made handy storage cubbies, but the noise they made
clanking down the streets was enough to wake the dead.
Still, it was a way for the two art student graduates to keep their
independence and better yet, to avoid cutting their hair and interviewing for
"establishment" jobs.
Now 50, the nattily dressed pair, with hair shorn short, are considered
one of State Street's anchor tenants and fiercest supporters. On March 3, they will
celebrate the Soap Opera®'s 25th anniversary.
"It's been really nice having them on the street," said Tony
Badame, State Street Merchants Association's past president and owner of the Sacred
Feather. "They have really come a long way. They did a great job on their building
and won an Orchid Award for the design of it inside and outside.
"It's been good for other retailers to see that longevity, too,
because so many others have come and gone. There is still a niche market for what they are
in."
That niche had its roots in the WHOLE Earth movement of the 1960s, Bauer's
self-described upbringing as an Army brat in Europe where small parfumiers are
commonplace, and Beckwith's simple desire to find a decent hairbrush for his long, wavy
hair.
"At that time there wasn't much if you wanted to buy personal
products and it wasn't very interesting," said Bauer. "So many people wanted an
alternative to mass-produced things, and we hand bottle and label to this day."
"We connected with free-lance chemists and manufacturers right at the
beginning because we started our own products," Beckwith said. "It's one of our
strengths today."
Approximately one-third of the Soap Opera®'s inventory is their own line of
biodegradable, cruelty-free products, which cover the gamut from custom-blended fragrances
and lotions to new products such as a combination witch hazel and aloe vera toner that
Beckwith devised himself. Raw ingredients such as French civet parfum oil are imported in
heavy metal containers resembling small gasoline cans and mixed in a small, unadorned
basement space. Refillable containers are still a mainstay at the store, where customers
can receive a 25-cent credit toward purchase for each plastic Soap Opera bottle they bring
in.
Mail orders, which make up roughly 20 percent of the business, are labeled
and shipped from a small desk at the back of the store. Mail orders are
particularly popular, the two said, among all customers and especially far
flung Madisonians, because of the time-saving aspect and because orders are
usually shipped within 24 hours and may be shipped anywhere in the US and
internationally.
Neither Beckwith nor Bauer can say exactly how many items they have in
their inventory, but they admit some products are purchased by only a handful of
customers. Like any other retailer, they strive to keep the mix of merchandise fresh and
attractive through clever presentation, which in their case incorporates the pair's
artistic backgrounds and makes the most out of vertical displays. But what the pair said
most customers want is price stability and reliability.
"We're still the kind of store where they know our name and we know
their names," said Bauer. "If a couple comes in, we know what the wife likes and
what shave cream her husband shaves with. It's an old-fashioned thing. But it's very much
needed. The more high-tech we get, the more high-touch we need to be."
While the two average 50 hours a week at the Soap Opera® and have been
known to bring cots into the back room during the holiday season, Bauer and Beckwith said
their biggest asset is their staff of six employees -- two of whom will mark 15 years with
the company this year. Wages begin at $6.50 an hour, but there are tremendous benefits for
those who stick around. Staffers are paid for an eight-hour day even though they work
seven with a one-hour lunch, and after just two years, they get four weeks paid vacation.
There is no formal dress code, except that the two jokingly like to say they draw the line
on visible body piercing.
Employee Kevin May, who was 25 years old when first hired, said he has
stayed with the company for 15 years because his bosses provide a respectful work
environment and individual encouragement that for May led to the development of his own
line of Ascent body oils sold in the store. Another employee has developed a line of
scented and unscented cloth bags to rest on weary eyes.
"They want to see people develop their own interests and passions and
believe that will come back to them," May said.
This same caring philosophy exhibits itself in the pair's strident support
for downtown Madison (Bauer is chairman of the city Landmarks Commission) and a slew of
fund-raisers they've hosted for causes that range from day care to gay rights. While
openly gay and supportive of other gay businesses through advertising and New Harvest
Foundation, the two said that segment of the market is not enough to keep them afloat.
Their goal is to stay connected to "the whole community."
Yet where it pays off personally is obvious when Bauer and Beckwith recall
with great humility that some of their gay customers have returned to tell them the two
have served as role models.
What has paid off financially for Bauer and Beckwith is an old-fashioned
frugality they said they inherited from Depression-era parents.
"We were raised not to demand everything handed to us," Bauer
said. "I see that change today. If people don't get the immediate rewards, they
declare bankruptcy in their 20s and 30s. It's not how we were raised."
"We have been able to find satisfaction in the intangibles of
life," adds Beckwith.
Bauer and Beckwith opened their first store with $600 in what was little
more than an alcove at the Lakeside Station at 515 N. Lake St. Two years later, they moved
what was then called the Body Shop to 312 State St., across the street from their current
location. They lived with a month-to-month lease for eight years and when they finally got
the opportunity to buy their own building at 319 State St., they did so, but cautiously.
It was the first loan they had taken out in 10 years of business.
The building is since paid off and the two now own two homes: a country
home in New Glarus and another in University Heights. Their wealth has allowed them to
indulge their artistic talents, which include Beckwith's passion for ceramic mosaics and
Bauer's love for painting. Their work has been exhibited in Chicago and also lines the
walls of the company's cramped downstairs office.
Both are amazed at the swift passage of time, but neither at their success
or the worldwide appeal of the personal gift and aromatherapy market. It has been a long
steady progression marked with hard work and a dash of serendipity. Lessons learned along
the way include: never hiring close friends, learning to delegate work to others such as
accountants and learning the difference between excellence and perfection. And most of
all, ignoring critics that originally scoffed at creating a business based on bubbles and
lotions and oils.
"We had the right product at the right time and had the right force
of personality to make the service paramount, especially you did," Beckwith said
pointing to his partner. "We never thought it wouldn't do well. It seemed to me it
never occurred to us. We took it each day as it came."
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