Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Connelly.
Hi susan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hi, my name is Susan Connelly-Pace, and my husband, Mike, and I are the owners of Cranberry Station Soap
Co. We have proudly called Klamath Falls home for the past 20 years and have owned our company for the
last nine.
About 20 years ago, my husband and I were looking for a change of pace and a different lifestyle from the
hectic, traffic-filled pace of Northern California. At the time, I was working as a Quality Assurance Analyst in
the IT industry, and a job opportunity became available for my husband in Klamath Falls. We decided to
take a drive to Oregon, and it didn’t take long for us to fall in love with Klamath Falls’ small-town charm. It
felt like exactly the fresh start we had been looking for.
At the time, my husband owned a dental laboratory, creating dentures and crowns for several dental
practices in the area. Because that work requires constant handwashing, he struggled with dry, cracked
hands caused by the harsh chemicals found in many commercial soaps. We tried several handmade soaps,
but none of them met his needs. He encouraged me to begin experimenting with soap making, hoping I
could create something gentler and more nourishing.
Like many soap makers, I set out to solve a problem for someone I loved. What started as a personal project
quickly turned into something much bigger. After plenty of research, experimentation, and testing, I
developed a soap that not only worked for my husband but that friends and family began requesting for
themselves.
I rented a small workspace downtown, immersed myself in learning everything I could about soap making,
and treated it like a business from the very beginning. After about a year, I began sharing my products
more widely, and with a little encouragement from my husband, we opened our downtown storefront in the
summer of 2017.
Since then, it has been a whirlwind. Owning our store has introduced us to an incredible community of local
artisans and farmers, allowing us to source skin-loving ingredients like fresh goat milk, local honey, and
beautiful flowers right here in Klamath Falls. One of the greatest joys of owning Cranberry Station Soap Co.
has been collaborating with other local makers and supporting one another as we create handcrafted
products for our community
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 presented significant challenges for our business. We closed our store in March and were unable to reopen until the end of the summer. Fortunately, our loyal customers continued to support us by placing online orders, and several neighboring businesses generously featured our products on their websites. Thanks to their unwavering support, we weathered the uncertainty without missing a beat and were able to keep our business going.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At Cranberry Station, we’ve intentionally kept our business small. It’s just my husband and me formulating and creating every one of our products by hand. Our best-selling product is our unscented goat milk soap—the very first soap we ever made and began selling. It remains the product I’m most proud of.
I believe what sets us apart from other soap companies is our commitment to using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, combined with the warm, welcoming atmosphere we’ve created in our brick-and-mortar store. Customers often stop by just to visit or say hello, and that’s one of the things we love most about being part of this wonderful community.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I’m always happy to work with other retail stores for wholesale and other artists where I can incorporate their work into my soaps and then feature them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cranberrystation.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cranberry_station/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cranberrystation
