A long-running creative enterprise in Tuscaloosa is packing up shop and moving to a new location downtown next month.
Soapy Jones, the owner and operator of Left Hand Soap Co., said her small business will leave its location in Parkview Plaza Shopping Center off 15th Street at the end of January and open up a new store on University Boulevard next to Black Warrior Brewing Co.
“I’m just so excited,” Jones said Monday afternoon. “We were over there today and met up with the end of the Martin Luther King Day march and rally. It was such a beautiful thing to walk outside and realize that when we’re downtown this is kind of thing is going to happen in front of our shop all the time.”
For almost 19 years, Jones’ company has made and sold organic soaps, oils, balms and other hygiene and grooming products.
In February, she and her husband Erik Hanson will move their store into the site formerly occupied by the T-Town Market, a bodega-style convenience store launched last year by Eric Hull, the owner and operator of Black Warrior Brewing Co.
Hull said the market never took off the way he hoped it would, but he looks forward to having Jones’ small business next door to the brewery.
“We have known Soapy for a number of years now and have always loved her and her products,” Hull said. “When the opportunity presented itself for Left Hand Soap to move into the space vacated by our market we were extremely excited.”
Hull said it will be good to have another creative enterprise in the downtown area and offer shoppers another option for shopping local.
“While crafting our beers is a very different process than crafting soap, there are numerous similarities between our businesses,” Hull said. “We are both committed to supporting our great community and crafting some great products for our fantastic fan base. We look forward to seeing Left Hand Soap being able to grow into this new space and hope to partner with them for some fantastic events in the near future.”
Jones started her entrepreneurial adventure after a Christmas nearly 20 years ago when she made soaps as gifts for friends and family. Soon after, her loved ones were asking for more and Jones dipped her toes into the waters of small-business ownership.
“For 15 years, we were running everything out of our house,” Jones said. “We just got in the habit of playing Tetris to utilize the space and get everything done, but eventually we wanted our dining room back and we moved into Parkview Center three years ago.”
Jones said the new storefront on University Boulevard is about twice as big as the space she and Hanson have worked in for the last three years. The additional square footage will allow them to make more products and display and sell them in a larger area, Jones said.
“The new store will be big enough to do what we’re ready to do right now, it ticked off our boxes right away,” Jones said. “We’ve got half a dozen products waiting for rollout that we’ll be bringing out our first few months there.”
Jones said the store in Parkview Center will close on Jan. 31 and after a day of downtime, the new location should be up and running Feb. 2. After they open next month, Left Hand Soap will do business from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and be closed every Sunday and Monday.
Jones said she has found joy over the years in seeing other creative endeavors bloom around town, from Tuscaloosa’s three local breweries to the artists displaying their work at Kentuck and more.
“It’s been really neat to watch that local pride come out, to see other people say ‘I can take that risk, let’s see what happens,’ then see them succeed,” Jones said. “Our growth and theirs has been so amazing, the city itself has been so supportive and the community has just been great. It’s never been a dull ride.”
Reach Stephen Dethrage at stephen.dethrage@tuscaloosanews.com or 722-0227.