Franchise that keeps people clean opens in Tupelo

Krista Scott was a customer of “Buff City Soap” for years, and when the Bartlett, Tennessee-based company began franchising, she opened a store in Southaven and opened a Tupelo store on St. Patrick’s Day.

Buff City Soap uses no harsh chemicals, detergents, or animal products.

“We make plant-based products for your skin and clothing, we have laundry soap also, everything in the store is handmade,” Scott said.

Every product on the shelf is made in front of customers.

“We use a kitchen aid mixer to mix body butter, a hand mixer to mix up soap, and once it’s hardened, we use a hand cutter and cut each bar of soap by hand, all made here locally by local employees,” Scott said.

Here at Buff City Soap, they have what they call soap-making classes, and Ms. Chelsea here is going to take me through what one of the classes would be.

I mix coconut, olive, and palm oil with the ingredients prepared by Chelsea, then the mixture is poured into the loaf tray, where it will set and become soap by the end of the day.

The company was started by a firefighter who was looking for soap without harsh chemicals, detergents, and animal fats found in commercial soap, so he made his own, and started selling it.  There are now more than 180 stores and Krista Scott says Northeast Mississippi was a great choice for one of the newest stores.

“We’ve had steady business, we have people who have shopped at our other stores and are excited we are closer, and we have people who have never been in and have already come back a second time, we have one customer who has been in every day, since we have opened,” Scott said.

There are more than sixty scents available at Buff City Soap.

Krista Scott also has plans to open a Buff City Soap in Starkville.  And you can see more of Allie’s attempt at making soap on Sunrise Saturday, this coming Saturday at 9 on WCBI.