Fri, May 08, 2009 - 10:54:30

How a Mother Daughter Hobby Became a Multi Million Dollar Business

When Judy Zimmer and her daughter, Jocelyn Murray, opened a custom bath products store in 1996 “just for fun” they never would have expected that 12 years later, their mother-daughter project would become a wildly successful franchise operation of more than sixty stores where customers mix and match ingredients to create individualized soaps, bath salts, body scrubs, and more.

But, as we discuss in THE POWER OF SMALL: Why Little Things Make All the Difference, many of today’s most successful entrepreneurs started with very small ideas.  In Judy’s case, the idea was to bring the “service” back into customer service and bring the shopping experience back to consumers.  In 1996, at the height of the dot-com era, Judy and her daughter noticed that the rise in internet shopping’s popularity had contributed to a worsening experience for consumers still shopping the old fashioned way.  Their first thought was, “brick and mortar stores have to do better” and with their fully customizable line of all-natural products, called Bath Junkie, they set out to do just that.

Inspired by Jocelyn’s college experience working in a natural bath and body store, the mother-daughter duo collaborated with a team of chemists to perfect their initial line and set out to open their store, “as a hobby.”  They selected a spot within a well known tourist attraction in Arkansas and little by little, word of their fabulous shop, which they describe as “a soda fountain for bath stuff” spread around the country.  As Zimmer recalls, “Tourists would come to the store and fall in love with the product and the experience and say, “We need one of these in Iowa, we need one of these in New York” and the only solution to ensure the store’s integrity was to franchise.”  And so, in 2000, just four years after opening their store “just for fun”, Zimmer and Murray began the franchise.

Today, Bath Junkie operates in stores coast to coast with the same goal of “making shopping fun.” While this may seem like a simple concept, it’s the same one that has made Bath Junkie such a success. By catering to the needs of each and every customer, giving them a one-on-one experience, and providing the feel of a mini-spa, they’ve taken a small idea and translated it into a BIG business.

We would like thank Judy Zimmer for sharing her inspiring story with our readers.  All week long, we’re highlighting the ways in which entrepreneurs like Judy and her daughter are putting the power of small to work in their businesses.  If you would like to share your own success story with us, please send us an email.

Posted by Linda and Robin