Oct. 28, 2021

The fast-growing natural soap shop Buff City Soap opens today in Sioux Falls.

The national retailer specializes in customizable plant-based soaps, and bath and laundry products, and is opening at Empire Place on West 41st Street in the same retail center as Crumbl Cookies.

“I love the layout, I love the flow, I love the look, the neighborhood, the co-tenants. The energy all around here is awesome,” said Curt Bowen, who plans to develop more than 40 locations and started with two in Nebraska late last year.

Buff City’s product mix includes bar soap, foaming hand soap, shower gel, laundry soap and bath bombs.

“It’s an interactive experience. Anything is customizable,” Bowen said.

There are more than 40 scents that can be combined or further customized at the on-site soap makery.

“Kids can come in and do bath bombs, so if mom or dad are shopping, the kids can sit and interact,” Bowen said.

All products are plant-based, and “you can pronounce every ingredient,” said Kelsey Gaston, vice president of sales and marketing. “It’s very transparent.”

Customers also have reported major improvements to their skin, she said. Gaston saw it with her 3-year-old daughter who had eczema flare-ups.

“It was night-and-day difference,” she said. “The next morning, it was like from beet red to normal skin tone, and we have a lot of success stories like that. So many people walk in looking for a solution and something their whole house can use.”

Buff City also sells a plant-based three-in-one laundry product that’s among its most popular offerings.

“It replaces your detergent, scent booster and fabric softener,” Gaston said.

Some products will be designed just for Sioux Falls, too, starting with this bar of soap inspired by Falls Park.

The location at Empire Place is “really a tremendous spot,” Bowen added.

“We just couldn’t ask for a better location or better visibility. The energy around here is second to none, and we know sites. We do a lot of site searches. This is a really nice spot.”

Hiring went “better than expected,” Bowen said. “Coming into the market, we heard the same stories we hear in markets we’re already in, and we were absolutely concerned about it. We did adjust compensation accordingly, but we’ve hired a lot more people out of the gate than many other (stores).”

Some of the newest hires worked one shift, and “every single one was begging for more hours and wanted to be here more,” Gaston said. “They get in here and say: ‘This is awesome. This is fun.’ So that’s been a pleasant surprise that everyone is so in love with working here.”

Buff City Soap is still hiring in preparation for the holiday season. Applicants can apply in the store or here.

Hours typically will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For this grand-opening weekend, the store at 4025 W. 41st St. will open an hour earlier and close an hour later.

The first 50 customers each day today through Sunday will earn free soap for a year, and there are other across-the-board discounts offered all weekend.