Dec 3, 2009

The global market has reboundedBy Neal St. AnthonyStarTribune.com

Antoinette Williams, who makes herb-laden balms, soaps and lotions from vegetable oils and natural fragrances, is a grateful retailer this holiday season.

Her shop, Rituals, is posting month-over-month sales growth for the second year in a row after nearly failing as a table-top kiosk during the 2006-07 launch of the Midtown Global Market, the ethnic market housed in the refurbished, 1920s-vintage Sears Roebuck store on E. Lake Street.

“We’re in the health business,” said Williams, a seven-year cancer survivor who makes most of the products in her kitchen. “My hand touches everything but the soy candles. We can sell you an ‘orange oil’ or a ‘tangerine dance soap’ and you can eat [it] if you want. You might blow bubbles, but it won’t give you a tummy ache.”

Williams, who started mixing herbs and oils with her grandmother a half-century ago, still has miles to go. She pays herself only part-time wages in order to pay the store manager (her daughter, Mai’sah Blanton), and two part-time sales employees. Williams, 62, has repaid a $2,400 start-up loan. And two years of sales increases have allowed her to expand inventory and product lines.

Read complete article.