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Sue Kurowski 
Oldtimer & Lily
Warrenton, NC

Where to start, where to start?  It used to be so easy when I was younger, and my head was a little emptier!  The most recent addition to my soap and sundries career is what I should address here first, that of fragrance supplier, but I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be a fragrance supplier!  It was a long road, and I was helped along it much of the way by the Soapnuts list.

May I start toward the beginning?  The first thing most people ask is how I started making soap.    As a typical baby boomer, I have to warn you that we all have a story to tell, and we all think our particular story is well worthwhile, so bear with me.  The most important part of my interest in so many things – from gardening, to pets, to herbs, to making as much as I can, myself – is due to my large extended family in Minnesota, which was the center of all sorts of family experiments and activities.  All those activities were tempered only somewhat by the fact that my father was a disabled vet with no legs, so we did a lot of what we called “legless activities.”  This included the usual, such as card and board games, but also a lot of things like trying to make our own pasta, candles, bread…and soap.  We also didn’t have much extra to spend, and I was blessed with parents who made things like a trip to the dump an event!  Never ones to go to movies or go bowling, we were more likely to make our Saturday entertainment a trip to the local gravel pit to look for agates.  I consider myself very fortunate to have had this type of childhood, and all that was learned – from an ability to be thrifty to the names of all the local weeds!  Now, fast forward a few years, and you find a young mother with three children, sharing multiple allergies, and you can understand where an interest in alternative foods, remedies, and the like comes in. 

When we made soap while I was still in my parents’ home, I found it fascinating, but also a little off-putting.  We did everything from render our own lard, on up to the finished soap.  I was fascinated with the process, but I didn’t care much for rendering animal fat, and the unusual colors we would get.  I let it go for a while, and focused on raising babies, working in institutional equities (stock market), and keeping a home.  I make many other things – as a young mother I made all our bread, yogurt, most of our clothing, etc.  Eventually, I came back to soapmaking as a hobby, through the encouragement of a friend, and after seeing beautiful handmade soaps at the Minneapolis Farmers Market.  The abundance of information made available by the internet, as well as easy access to supplies, was very liberating.  It wasn’t until my divorce, remarriage, and move to North Carolina, however, that I allowed myself to think of soap as a business.  

At present, I make thousands of bars of soap per year, I have wholesale accounts in three states outside of NC, and a couple B&B accounts. I still love every single bar I make and enjoy the process immensely.  Now, I’m providing fragrances to people across the country, as well as a few folks in Australia, and I love that, too.  I have to admit that a large part of what I love about fragrance sales is doing all the testing, and trying to detect trends.  In addition, I’m a huge fan of shea butter, and have been very fortunate to find a way to work with a women’s cooperative in Ghana, which gives me a good price on top quality shea butter, and gives them a chance at a living wage, so I’m able to re-sell that.   

As to personal life, the most important aspect is that I’m married to the love of my life, Gerry.  We will have our seventh anniversary this coming March.  His love, acceptance, and stability have given me the freedom to feel creative and to test possibilities.  Between us, we have four adult children ranging in ages from 36 to 23, and two grandchildren.  We have three dogs, a store cat, and multiple fish in our koi pond, but no plans for additional critters.  We are living in a house that’s over 200 years old, and in mid-renovation.  Our store, though up for sale, is the oldest brick store in town (built 1835) and adds some of the fuel that drives our fascination with local history and architecture.

I have long been interested in fragrance, and am so intrigued on an amateur level with the moods and trends that affect the buying public.  Also, I have a tendency to want what no one else is offering, and wish to be a step ahead if at all possible.  That’s part of what got me started in buying fragrance in larger quantity.  I also love the challenge of finding a favorite scent and trying to get it translated into soap.

One of the great things about the Soapnuts list is the weekly ads and the ability to discuss good suppliers.  I, however wanted something more – the ability to tweak a fragrance a bit to suit my nose, the ability to request things that I think are a trend, and the ability to keep my costs down – let’s be honest here!  I started small, with a few fast buys on the Soapnuts list, and now am stocking about 15 fragrances at any given time.  I’m also offering unrefined shea butter and refined mango butter.  I’m only working with one fragrance manufacturer, but they are a dream, and I don’t ever expect to be as big as the well-known suppliers.  I only sell what I have in my own line, and I test a lot.  

It seems that no matter what I do, I haven’t forgotten the years of being a poor single mom, and the wish to afford the pretties and the unique.  I hope to never forget it, for it reminds me to keep my prices as low as viably possible.  I’m probably not a good businessperson, for I’d rather make things available to people than make a lot of money, but I’m having a great time.  There’s been a side benefit to all this – that of developing correspondences and friendships with the people who buy my fragrances, and learning more about what others see as trends, and feeling as though I can be helpful.  I mentioned earlier that the store itself is up for sale, and once that’s out of our hands, I hope to focus on more soap, more fragrances, and possibly some other supplies out of a (to be restored) two-room kitchen house on our property.  Good fragrances, good friends, and never a dull moment -- after 20 + years in the stock market, I feel like I have the greatest and most interesting life! 

Thanks for offering me this opportunity to tell a little more about myself.

~ Sue Kurowski

NOTE:  You can find Oldtimer & Lily on the internet at www.oldtimerlily.safeshopper.com