She hasn’t been in business long, but you might say that Alicia Miller is already enjoying the sweet smell of success.
Miller, the proprietor of Glitz Soap Co., took on the art of soap making only about four years ago while expecting her youngest of three children. Until then, she had a home-based sewing pattern business but had become “burned out” and bored, she said.
That’s when she decided to pursue making soap as a hobby.
“I always liked homemade soaps,” she said. “So, I first tried it out for making Christmas presents.”
From there, her hobby evolved into a successful, one-of-a-kind local business.
Today, Glitz Soap Co., located on Mechanicsburg’s historic town square, offers a fragrant abundance of unique, handmade vegan products ranging from soap and shampoo bars to soothing lotions and shampoo—and even paw butter for Fido.
Miller started her business in 2018 with online sales, making soap in her backyard shed. As sales increased, it became difficult to manufacture these products in a residential outbuilding with no running water. With that, Glitz Soap re-located to a retail site and production lab just a block away from its current location on E. Main Street.
The first Glitz Soap Co. shop opened on Feb. 1, 2020, only to close six weeks later when the pandemic lockdown went into effect. Fortunately, the business kept afloat through steady online orders until the store was permitted to reopen that May.
“People like to support their local businesses,” noted Miller, whose shoppers mostly visit from area communities.
In August 2020, Glitz Soap relocated to its current location in the borough’s downtown, and sales soon doubled. Today, Miller no longer runs the business alone, as she has three part-time employees and a full-time store manager, Makenna Burlison. She also is considering opening a second location in Carlisle.
As manager, Burlison, of Mechanicsburg, manufactures soap in the store’s basement while Miller produces lotions and other products upstairs. Burlison began her job at Glitz a year or so ago after making an inquiry while shopping there, despite having no prior experience with the craft.
“I love taking self care, so I went into the shop to check it out and saw that Alicia was there by herself,” Burlison recalled. “So, I asked her if she was hiring. It was meant to be.”
Glitz Soap produces several batches at a time using a heated tank and a precise blend of seven natural oils, Miller said. In total, batches take around 30 minutes to produce but require an additional four weeks to cure into bars. Burlison said that she’s allowed free rein to conjure up any product scent that she imagines.
“I have the best job in the world,” Burlison said. “Alicia is awesome. She lets me make whatever I want. I love being creative.”
Current Glitz scents include, but aren’t limited to, vanilla clementine, blue lagoon, beach daisies, lavender coconut and margarita. Glitz also sells a colorful Renaissance soap bar scented as popcorn, apples and cotton candy to mimic aromas of Mechanicsburg’s annual Jubilee Day street fair.
Glitz donates $3 from each Renaissance bar sale to the Downtown Mechanicsburg Partnership’s Renaissance Revitalization Program, part of Glitz’s ongoing charitable giving program. Other recipients include Lancaster Farm Sanctuary, West Shore Wildlife Center, Homeward Bound Animal Rescue and Ecologi, the latter of which has planted 1,903 trees using Glitz proceeds. Miller said that recipients are selected based on her own personal causes.
Glitz regular Colleen Chadwick, of Lower Allen Township, said that hers is a “Glitz family.” She and husband Hayden both vouch for Glitz’s fragrant line of soaps and shampoos, while daughter Lillie, 7, has dedicated an entire shelf in the family’s linen closet for her own array of Glitz toiletries.
“My values align with the values at Glitz,” Chadwick said. “They’re always trying to come up with new natural products. We’ve tried to convert as much as possible in our home to use natural products without harsh products.”
Chadwick said that she not only likes Glitz products, but also enjoys the people behind the products whenever she goes in to stock up.
“It’s nice to know there are such nice, genuine people running such a genuine business,” she said.
Glitz Soap Co. is located at 1. E. Main St., Mechanicsburg. For more information, visit www.glitzsoap.com.
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