Bubbling with success

The Oahu business Bubbleshack looks forward to a big boost when Target sells its homemade soap

Bubble Shack's line of bath and beauty products, as well as its Bungalow Glow soy candles, has landed in more than stores locally, and in Ron Jon surf shops in Florida, New Jersey and California. That would be enough, you'd think, to qualify the homegrown business as a success.

But owners Ashley and Holly Harding set a specific goal when they started the business in their garage in 2006, and it's only now that they dare speak the "S" word.

The reason: Bubbleshack is one of the local businesses tapped to go into Target when the store arrives next spring.

"We're so excited about it," said Holly. "When we were developing the product we dreamed about one day being in Target, so when we got the purchase order, it was such a nostalgia moment, like, 'Wow, it really happened.' "

Although Bubble Shack's entry into the world of big-box retailing will start as a two-store experiment, "if all goes well, we have the potential to be in 7,000 stores," Holly said.

Many home businesses start with the idea of making a little extra money to keep up with inflation, and if lucky, that might lead to self-sufficiency. But the Hardings weren't content to be mere hobbyists, even though they got into soap-making because Ashley was spending hundreds of dollars buying specialty soaps.

"I don't know why; it was like an addiction. I guess I have to say something macho now," he said.

"From the beginning, we saw potential in the business. We made the decision to go for it and not give up."

At the time, Ashley was working as a construction estimator. Holly was marketing insurance. They are also musicians who credit that experience for helping them move forward without a thought of risk or failure.

"Neither of us is motivated by fear," said Holly. "As musicians we're always going into situations that are make it or break it. There's no security."

The Hardings were able to quit their jobs a year into their operation and have since moved out of their garage into a warehouse in Pearl City Industrial Park, where soap is still made by hand, though in bigger batches.

They aimed for a product that would be "eco-friendly, hypo-allergenic, good for all," Holly said.

Their soaps start with a base of soy, olive, castor, palm and coconut oils, the palm oil from an agro-ecological farm that doesn't contribute to rain forest depletion. Other specialty soaps are made with shea or cocoa butter.

"I can talk to you all day about ingredients. There are a lot of synthetic or petroleum-based ingredients used in the industry, but all ours are vegetable-derived," Ashley said.

"We're always on the look-out for anything that might be considered bad or dangerous," Holly said. "We're trying to be the Hawaii equivalent of Burt's Bees."

When they heard about Target opening here, Holly wrote to the company's corporate headquarters. It turned out that the buyer had been to Hawaii and was going to contact Bubble Shack after seeing its soaps in a small boutique which has since closed.

"They closed without paying us," Ashley said.

"I think we can call it even," said Holly.