A variety of scents at Beach Soap and Candle in Seaside.

Walk into Beach Soap and Candle on Holladay Drive and you might feel like you have entered a confectioner’s shop.

Across the bright, spacious room, display bins, tables and shelves are brimming with delicacies that delight both the nose and the eyes, from lusciously marbled soaps and truffle-like bath bombs to rich body butters, lotions and other lavish self-care items.

Each product in the shop, which opened in July, is hand-crafted with care and quality ingredients by owner Erin Fenison and her team. That’s part of her core business philosophy.

“If you’re going to make something for people it should be wholesome, it should add to their environment and their health, and it should be fun to use,” she said.

Building the business

Seaside is the second location for Fenison, who established her first storefront in Cannon Beach in 2017. However, her story begins a couple of years earlier, when she noticed her skin was irritated, and she went about discovering why. Upon researching the ingredients used in commercial self-care products and the standards they’re held to, she realized, “I was putting a lot of toxic stuff on my skin, which was affecting my immune system and making me have reactions.”

Her next step was to take inventory of the supplies she was using, and then cut out what she could, or learn how to make it herself with better formulations and ingredients.

“You can’t avoid all toxic exposure,” she said, but, “Everything builds up in your body, and it contributes to your overall health.”

It started with bars of soap, which are as beautiful as they are cleansing. She recalls mixing up her first batch in her kitchen and falling in love with the process from the start.

“I realized how much fun it was and how much artistic scope you can put into it and still have a good, clean, natural product,” she said.

She began sourcing her soaps out to local boutique shops but soon realized she wanted to — and could — sell it herself, especially with her background in retail and customer service.

Over time, she has expanded her inventory to include a myriad of other personal care and wellness products, as well as candles, bath accessories and scent diffusers for the home and car. She’s been meticulous about building up industry knowledge through personal research, taking classes and finding mentors.

“Every day I invest in learning and every day I invest in getting better, and that’s how (the business) grew,” she said.

Production, distribution

Fenison also chalks up the success of the soap and candle company to the support she’s received from her family. One of her sisters was there at the start, helping her run her first shop from an 800-square-foot space on a temporary lease in Cannon Beach. That shop has since moved to its new home on North Hemlock Street.

Another sister, Anna Jensen, now assists with production so they can keep up with the demand for the products across the North Coast and online — especially with the addition of the Seaside location. Fenison herself enjoys being involved with each aspect of the business, from production to distribution.

“I really like the aspect of selling what you make, because you do have direct interaction with your customers, you can get a feel for what they’re looking for and what they need,” she said. “That’s how a lot of these products came about, through customer relationships and people that I know looking for certain things.”

She credits her uncle with encouraging to her to add car fresheners to her inventory. While her stock has expanded, her care for the details of each product has not. She uses simple ingredients and as few as possible while ensuring the products remain effective. She sources clean fragrances from reputable suppliers in the United States. She makes the candles from soy instead of paraffin wax, which is carcinogenic, and tries to incorporate green options, such as biodegradable shrink wrap and products without packaging.

“We put a lot of thought and care into the details that go into this, because every little bit counts,” she said.

In downtown Seaside, she has not only found a new access point to customers, but also a neighborhood that feels welcoming and supportive.

“I’m just so happy to be here,” she said. “There are a lot of really great people that live and work here, too. That’s what really makes Seaside what it is.”