Cristy Bergeron-Charest can trace the origins of The Soapery Off Main back to an unlikely source: a five-gallon bucket of coconut oil in her parent’s garage that would become the cornerstone of her passion for body care.

Today, in her home kitchen in Concord, she melts, molds and cures similar ingredients into artisanal soaps and skincare products she sells between two full-time stores and two pop-up locations in central New Hampshire. The newest of these, located on North Main Street in Concord, opened its doors to the public on May 8.

Before her business had a name or storefront, Bergeron-Charest and her three daughters began making body scrubs and soaps as holiday gifts in 2017. She eventually decided to publicly debut and sell her products at local craft fairs for a modest profit. For Bergeron-Charest, who at the time was a single mother and full-time employee at a local restaurant, body care was both a source of extra income and an opportunity to bond with her daughters.

“I just wanted to spend more time with the kids and still be able to generate money. I was making just as much money doing these craft fairs as I was with my salary at the restaurant. So, I started doing more and more craft fairs,” she said.

In 2020, as the pandemic brought fairs and other large-scale sales events to a standstill, Bergeron-Charest shifted her focus to securing a permanent location for her emerging business. She quit her food service job and moved her body care to a location on Warren Street in Concord — a decision that later enabled her to care for her middle daughter when she was diagnosed with long COVID.

“She got very, very sick,” she said. “She was in an ambulance probably three to four times a week. While having that store, I was able to have access to a back room and care for her while I was working. I said to myself that I was never going to put myself in a situation where I had to choose my job over my kids again.”

Since then, the Soapery has only grown. Bergeron-Charest said she has the staff to expand even further, but at its core, it remains a family-run business. With the help of her mother, husband and daughters, she continues to create and sell her handmade products.

“We use ingredients like olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter, a lot of really clean ingredients” she said. “We all make the soap at home. It cures overnight, and then the next morning, it’s formed in a loaf. Then, we cut all the loaves. Zero waste, no plastic, no chemicals.”

The shop sells a range of handmade and locally sourced body care products, including tallow face creams, clay moisturizing bars, mineral sunscreens, goat milk soaps and essential oil-infused body scrubs.

“We try to keep our products as local and unique as possible,” Bergeron-Charest said. “We just love what we make.”

The Soapery Off Main operates at two full-time locations: Tanger Outlets in Tilton and 32 North Main Street in Concord. It runs seasonal pop-ups from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31 at Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua and Merrimack Premium Outlets in Merrimack. Its Concord location is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday through Saturday.

For more information on The Soapery Off Main, visit scrub-it-nh.ecwid.com.

Brendilou Armstrong can be reached at barmstrong@cmonitor.com.