It's a gritty city, and someone's got to pretty it up. Sarah Holmes'
Gritty City Beauty Company began as a personal quest for simple skin care products. "It started when I was pregnant," recalls Holmes, who had to give up tubes of topical ointment and needed a healthier alternative. She started making her own scrubs and masks, and it wasn't long before the full-time product liability lawyer saw a business idea in her afterwork potion making.
"It seemed like the more I cut out the prescription creams, the better my skin got," says Holmes, and Gritty City Beauty Company was born at the end of last summer. Holmes is also a wife and mother of a 15 month old toddler, yet she somehow finds time evenings and weekends to create and grow her line of organic beauty products.
Gritty City now carries soaps, scrubs and toners as well as all natural makeup. While the former can be cooked up in Holmes' Port Richmond kitchen, the makeup is created in a lab. While this type of product is not mandated by law, "You do have to adhere to certain manufacturing practices," says Holmes. "Ultimately you have to put out a product that is safe and can hold up to consumer use. I am very careful about that sort of thing."
Gritty City is primarily an online operation, and Holmes sets up tables at local outdoor events, where people are able to smell and test the items. Holmes was surprised to discover that she has a strong older customer base. If she had to guess, she would have placed her target customer in the 18 to 35 age range, but she actually gets a lot of buyers in their 50s and 60s.
Gritty City is also beginning to get placement in Philadelphia boutiques and has met or exceeded all its benchmarks so far. With no outside financing, Holmes relies on social media marketing, and
Facebook and
Twitter are driving traffic to the online shop. You can find Gritty City at
Nice Things Handmade on Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia, and
Vix Emporium in West Philly. Or head down to Headhouse Square on July 2, when Gritty City sets up shop at the
Craft and Fine Arts Fair.
Source: Sarah Holmes, Gritty City Beauty Company
Writer: Sue Spolan