“You need soap. P.U.,” is the slogan of the latest commercial addition to Somerset Street West, which opened two weeks ago amid the bulldozers and roadblocks of another Centretown construction zone.
Purple Urchin is a handmade-soap shop started by Rebecca Pereira, 30, and Sarah Stewart, 29.
They say the name just happened and they didn’t realize the pun in Purple Urchin’s initials until a costumer pointed it out.
“We just kind of ran with it and turned it into our slogan,” says Stewart.
Just inside the purple-painted door of Purple Urchin, at 882 Somerset St., the quaint little shop greets costumers with soothing aromas.
The shelves are lined with vegan and vegetarian soaps, body butters, bath balms, bath salts, candles and more with the names such as “Lumberjack” and “'80s Revival.”
Music plays out of a iPod dock sitting in the corner on a mini-skateboard which Pereira found at a thrift store.
Photos of family and friends helping to package the soap line a few shelves – as well as a photo of Pereira’s hedgehog.
Outside the purple door, heavy machinery and construction workers bustled through their work day.
The shop got 10 costumers on its opening day and Stewart says that’s about what they expected because they didn’t advertise.
But, she says, the construction probably cut down on the numbers of walk-in costumers.
Down the street at Somerset Travel Agency, owner Mario De Marinis says he wishes Purple Urchin luck but added: “It’s not a good time to open.”
De Marinis’s business has lost money in the last six months, a first in 50 years of business, he says.
The construction was originally to be completed by December but now not expected to be finished until the spring.
Pereira and Stewart say they aren’t sure about what the construction will mean for business.
But the most important thing the Somerset location provides is a workshop for Pereira and Stewart to make their products and gets them out of their kitchens or basements.
Pereira and Stewart met in high school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. They wanted to start a business that was environmentally friendly and Pereira came up with the idea of selling soap.
They started making soaps for family and friends as Christmas gifts in 2005.
The recipes they use are made up on the fly and then tested on themselves.
They say it’s a lot of trial and error but they say the soap “Mosswood” was one of their best mistakes and has become one of their top sellers.
Stewart says their soap was the only thing she could use after her seven-year-old son, Ethan, was born because she was having a lot a skin issues.
In February 2006, Purple Urchin registered as a business, starting out in farmer’s markets and craft shows in Sault Ste. Marie.
When Stewart moved to Ottawa in 2007, she took a year off from soap making. Then Stewart got into the Ottawa farmer’s market and craft scene and the two decided that Ottawa would be their target for a storefront business.