With only 60 residents and no roads or cars, Bethan Smith did not expect business on Easdale to boom immediately.
But her little shop, basically a shed in the garden of her whitewashed cottage, has been busy selling her handmade soaps every day since it opened last month.
The former slate quarrying isle is 15 miles south of Oban in Argyll, Scotland. Once inhabited by quarriers, the cottages are connected by a network of paths and the island is accessed by a small passenger ferry.
Today Easdale has a pub, a community hall and a museum. There is already a pop-up art gallery and shop in one of the other cottages and now Bethan’s soap shed, Siabann Eisdeal – Gaelic for Easdale Soap – has joined the list of attractions.
She said: “It has been so busy, way busier than I thought it would be. The least amount of people I’ve had in one day since I opened on August 5 was 15.
“Passing trade is mainly from tourists coming to the island for a day trip. But I get locals popping in just to say hi. Usually if islanders are looking for soap they message me on Facebook and I walk over and deliver it to them.”
Bethan, 31, started making her own soaps during lockdown because her daughter Luna, a toddler at the time, suffered from sensitive skin.
Following government advice and constantly washing her hands, the little one had sore, cracked skin.
So the mum developed her own recipe using natural ingredients. Now she has a range of whipped and solid soaps in a variety of fragrances. The soaps act as a moisturiser and are free from any harsh colours or chemicals.
She started selling them to neighbours before making Facebook and Instagram pages and promoting them online. The business took off to the point of opening the shop.
Bethan grew up on Easdale and is married to the ferryman, Joe Smith, 35. The couple have two children, Luna, now five, and Lucas, two.
She said: “I’ve been told there was a shop here about 30 years ago, which sold groceries and newspapers.
“At the time there were about 100 full-time residents on the island. It closed when the couple who ran it moved away.”
The soap shed is currently open Thursday-Sunday, 11am-3pm. In the summer it will be Tuesday-Sunday, with the same opening hours.
Bethan added: “The locals think it is fantastic to see someone who was born and raised on the island to now have my own family and open a business. They are very supportive. I even get a mention in the museum.
“People have started doing their Christmas shopping already.”
She even made a special edition Easdale Skimmer soap for the World Stone Skimming Championships at the weekend.
Bethan said: “They are very realistic, they look like Easdale slates. I made a mould from a stone slate I found on the beach.”