Buff City Soap Continues Expansion From South To South Carolina

Experimental Handmade Soap Retail Franchise Concept Opening South Carolina’s First Soap Makery

March 2, 2021 // Franchising.com // Clemson, South Carolina – Buff City Soap, a rapidly expanding retail franchise known for its handmade, 100% vegetable soaps, bath bombs, body butter, soap in powder and other delicious products, continues its rapid growth across the south. The new Buff City Soap store is scheduled to open in early March and will be located at 13480 Clemson Blvd. in Hartwell Village. This store will be operated by longtime friends Rick & Joni Hayes and Tammy Swinney.

The Hayes currently have four Buff City Soap stores in Alabama, including three stores in the Birmingham area and one in Montgomery. Since the Hayes and Swinney families have been close for many years, working together in new stores across the interior of South Carolina seemed like a perfect opportunity. The Clemson / Seneca store will be almost in the shadow of Clemson’s Death Valley and is an exciting first step for Rick, Joni and Tammy. This team is planning to open at least 20 additional Buff City Soap locations throughout the interior of South Carolina, the state of Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia.

This is certainly not the Hayes’ first experience as entrepreneurs and business owners. Rick is the founder of Ingenuity, Inc. based in Pelham, Alabama, which is the hometown of the Hayes and Swinney families and where Rick served as president of the city council for the previous eight years. Ingenuity, Inc. is an information technology and energy / telecommunications optimization company. Tammy’s brother-in-law, Dabo Swinney, has been a member of Ingenuity’s board of directors with Rick since the company’s founding almost twenty years ago.

Ingenuity helped with Dabo’s ALL IN TEAM Foundation and the Clemson Football Camps for many years, but Rick’s ties to Clemson go back to his childhood, when he started watching Alabama-Auburn football games every year with Clemson’s legendary football coach, Frank Howard. “Coach Howard became a good friend of my father through the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and I have always felt blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with him. Naturally, it was surreal when Dabo accepted the offer to come to Clemson, and I can’t say how excited we are to open our first business here with Tammy, ”said Rick.

When Rick and Joni first tried Buff City soaps and started thinking about opening several stores, they took samples of soaps, clothes soaps and body butters for Swinneys to try. As everyone loved the handmade products made in the store daily, Rick and Joni acquired two stores and started making plans with Tammy to open the stores in South Carolina.

“After using Buff City Soap products and seeing how everything is done in front of customers, it became very clear that this is a truly unique concept,” said Rick Hayes. “All of our friends and family kept talking about how the products made their skin taste good and how everything smelled wonderful,” added Joni.

Founded in 2013, Buff City Soap has created a high quality alternative to commercial soaps filled with aggressive chemicals, detergents, animal fats and sulphates. By giving customers a chance to see the entire manufacturing process at each Soap Makery, Buff City Soap is shaking the consumer goods industry by focusing on the transparency of ingredients and the process.

Buff City Soap Makeries also hosts many parties that include creating personalized soaps and bath bombs for children and adults. Buff City Soap is also very involved in all of its communities and offers exclusive fundraising for many school, civic and religious groups.

“Our customers’ reactions are always surprising when they visit our soap factories,” added Tammy. “It never hurts to see a customer personalize their own Buff City products for the first time and seeing the joy they have after creating their unique scents is a very rewarding feeling. The Clemson market is perfect for Buff City Soap, and we can’t wait to open our doors and start serving customers. “

The Swinney and Hayes families are excited to help expand Buff City Soap across the south. “Being able to share this experience with my family and longtime friends is really special,” said Rick. “We grew up together and remained friends for many years, so it is unbelievable that we now have the opportunity to work so closely together.”

Each Buff City Soap store offers more than 30 exclusive and customizable scents in dozens of handmade soaps; including handmade soaps, bath bombs, foam hand soap, body butter and even washing powder! The brand’s products are made by local artisans in the store’s Makeries, which allow guests to customize the ingredients used in the process to create unique aromas made especially for them.

SOURCE Buff City Soap

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