Recipe for success

As a health conscious, bath and body care connoisseur, Connie Rushing makes no bones about her reputation of being a bath snob.

“My hubby will tell a story of the time he purchased a bubble bath for me,” Rushing said. “He knows I love bubble baths, that is my ‘do not disturb, Mommy time’. So, he went to a quick-stop, chain pharmacy store and picked up a ‘standard’ bottle of bubble bath as a gift.

"Big mistake.”

Receiving just a subpar reaction from Rushing, her husband, Anthony Rushing responded with, ‘you are such a bath snob!’ And there spawned the name of the bath, body and candle boutique.

Bath Snob, located in a former dentist’s office in the Hope Mills Plaza Shopping Center, is a family-owned company that specializes in homemade bath products and candles. Striving to maintain authenticity and always put the customer first, business owners Connie Rushing, her sister Tammie Melvin-Carlile and their mother Mary Thompson, also affectionately known by customers as Mom, consistently greet patrons with a smile, offering up product testing and a cozy atmosphere filled with vibrant colors, plush seating and inventory filled with natural ingredients.

“All of our products are made here in shop, from all-natural, sulfate free, components,” Thompson said.

“Those ingredients include oils such as avocado, sunflower and olive oil as well as Aloe Vera for conditioning. Our shave soap is our biggest seller, especially being in a military town.”

In addition to the variety of colorful, fragrant and artistically crafted soaps, lotions, body sprays, body butters, sugar scrubs and bath bombs in the shapes of cupcakes, doughnuts and ice-cream cones sold in shops, Bath Snob offers additional delightful snobberies such as homemade candles. The candle shop, run by Melvin-Carlile provides traditional and scoopable candle options, with variations in wax meltability and scent release. Gift sets and classes for bath bomb and soap creation are also available to customers seasonally.

Rooted in humble beginnings, Rushing began constructing bath bombs as a cute, inexpensive takeaway for intimate gatherings and events.

“My first scent was lavender and vanilla,” Rushing said. “My sister had a recipe for those bath bomb cupcakes with the hard tops and she gave that to me in order to design my own as a gift.”

At first, Rushing didn’t perceive the craft as lucrative but merely a simple joy and a way of giving back to others. With continued interest and success in the product design, Rushing progressed in the route as a crafter, melting and pouring while experimenting and studying her pursuit. She recognized progress in her family and friends’ skin because of the body products she created which further motivated Rushing to learn and grow in the field, advancing to handcrafted lye soaps.

“Prior to Bath Snob, I worked for a utility company as an analytics supervisor for fifteen years,” Rushing said. “My passion and pursuit in a health, wellness business was a part-time venture while living in California. I was private label which means I made soap for other soapers and sugar scrubs for small businesses.”

Rushing said she and her husband would visit the L.A. County Fair and farmers markets in Monrovia, California where they received valuable customer feedback and laid the groundwork for a potential business. At the same time, Melvin-Carlile was nurturing her business in soap and candle making in Virginia. After considerable thought and conversation, the two sisters entertained the idea of launching a business together.

“I told myself, let me put something into myself and into the skillsets that we have as a family,” Rushing said. “After 26 years in California, my family wore me down and brought me to Fayetteville, where my parents retired.”

Opening Bath Snob in November 2018 in the Cross Creek Mall, the team tested the local market and saw wild success. Recognizing the visible progression and with massive support from the community, Rushing, Melvin-Carlile and Thompson stepped out on their own with the grand opening of their Hope Mills store front in May 2019. Building a partnership with family, Rushing stated, was a powerful constituent in advancing to the next level in the business.

“My experience stems from 32 years in retail,” Thompson said. “Tammie has a business background dealing with contractors, housing and rental property management, while Connie has experience as an analytics supervisor and is strong with mathematics. Our skillsets come together and are a recipe for success.”

Bath Snob certainly has their business down to a science, crafting a model of success in a small business: finely tuned and tested product, a trifecta of motivated and talented women and a keen eye and compassion for customer care.

“Sometimes you must take that leap, to invest in yourself and your potential,” Rushing said. “Being a business owner is hard. But every time I felt like I should quit or would reconsider what I was doing, I would see the pleasure and the happiness that the product provides others, and I just couldn’t walk away.”

The business is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. To learn more, visit the Facebook page at Bath Snob, or the website, bathsnob.com.