From the September/October 2008 issue of Our
Lives Magazine, by Gretchen Treu
Walking down State Street on a summer afternoon is a multi-sensory experience. The sun warms your skin while a Hybrid #6 bus slides past with its curiously compressed rush of air and sound. You might glance around at the bright colors of the trees blending with the bright awnings, or marvel at the unusual architecture of the Overture Center, wondering if that is, indeed, an inverted Tupperware container posing as a skylight. But most of all, you’ll notice the smells. First will come warm pavement and car fumes as you cross over Johnson St, then you’ll be enfolded by Italian sauces and spices as you approach Tutto Pasta and Pizza di Roma. Then, a strangely clean, sweet scent will start to filter in, flirting with you until you abandon any thought of following your nose to lunch and wander a few steps down to a bright, tiled storefront emanating the most seductive cacophony of smells you’ll encounter all day.
Go on. Open the door. You’ve just entered Madison’s very own Soap Opera.
Don’t worry; despite its name, nothing about the place resembles daytime television, except perhaps in the quality of the skin- and hair-care products available. The store is attractively arranged, with a number of high quality domestic and imported lotions, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, salves, oils, balms, and more. They also carry the most diverse set of themed rubber duckies I have ever seen, often charmingly displayed in the windows in response to topical themes (I remember a particularly adorable cowboy scene when Brokeback Mountain came out).
Modeled after the European perfumeries of owner Chuck Bauer’s childhood, The Soap Opera emphasizes unique, quality products and attentive, knowledgeable service to draw customers. This has been a successful approach for the business, which has grown steadily and considerably since its humble beginning on March 3, 1972 when Chuck Bauer and his partner, Chuck Beckwith, laid a blanket on Library Mall and started selling soap. Soon they upgraded to a chest of drawers on roller skates, then a hallway in an old Victorian rooming house on Lake Street, then up to the space now occupied by Pop Deluxe, which they outgrew after about a decade, and in 1982 jumped at the opportunity to own the property in which they are now located, at 319 State Street. It was a big risk at the time, but it’s paid off—the store has flourished in its current location for 26 years.
Chuck credits the store’s success to its originality and capacity to adapt to changing markets. When it opened, the Soap Opera was one of a kind—nobody sold body care products except the supermarket. Chuck & Chuck were ahead of the curve on developing their hobby of soap-making into a niche local business. Chuck Bauer attributes the success of boutique-style stores such as his to the “Europeanization of America”, as customers turn to local specialty stores for quality products rather than to big department stores. The Soap Opera is a proud member of the Dane Buy Local group of businesses.
Of course, for some, the distance, price of gas and parking make regular shopping in downtown Madison prohibitively expensive, and the Soap Opera accommodates this with a lively website (www.thesoapopera.com) from which customers can shop at their convenience. The Soap Opera ships daily to people across the country and the world, as well as to local patrons. You miss out on the heady experience of walking in the store buying soap this way, but then again, you don’t have to shower before popping online.
Chuck and Chuck pride themselves on being involved community members as well as running a quality store. They have served as mentors to nascent entrepreneurs of now-established Madison businesses, and are happy to talk to anyone with business aspirations to give them advice and how to get going. Chuck Bauer loves Madison’s citizenry, and thinks that his store must attract particularly great customers. “Everybody’s welcome!” he crows, then winks, “As long as they behave themselves.”
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