Highland toiletries firm bucks retail gloom with expansion moves

A Highlands toiletries business is set to buck the gloomy high street trend by expanding its store network amid booming sales.
The Fort William-based Highland Soap Company has seen sales increase by 25 per cent over its last financial year. Picture: Iain Ferguson.The Fort William-based Highland Soap Company has seen sales increase by 25 per cent over its last financial year. Picture: Iain Ferguson.
The Fort William-based Highland Soap Company has seen sales increase by 25 per cent over its last financial year. Picture: Iain Ferguson.

Fort William-based Highland Soap Co is opening a new outlet in Aviemore in May, its seventh standalone store.

The company is also set to export products to Asia after striking a deal with a supplier to retailers in Hong Kong. It already supplies 350 retail stockists across Europe and North America.

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The expansion comes as the bath, body and skincare products firm reported a 25 per cent increase in sales for the 2020/21 financial year, reaching quadruple the level seen in 2017. The company has also increased its workforce by a third to 50 to meet demand.

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Emma Parton, who founded the company in her kitchen in 2001, said: “During the past year, shopping habits have changed, with many customers favouring local, sustainable businesses and products made by hand by skilled craftspeople.

“The shop and our expansion into Hong Kong will enable more customers to experience our range of organic, natural products in person and will mark

the start of a new and exciting chapter for the company.”

Last year, the company responded to the outbreak of Covid-19 by developing a range of scented hand sanitisers made with 70 per cent alcohol sourced from a Highland distiller. Their products have since been featured on ITV’s This Morning, where they were hailed by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield as among the best hand sanitisers on the market in the UK.

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