Preston woman’s homemade soap and candles are a major draw for customers
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PRESTON – When Ginger Day’s son got cancer seven years ago, it made her rethink what she was putting in and on her body.
She started making her own soap, which is now a staple at her shop at 10 North State Street in Preston. It’s called DMR Home & Apothecary. She and her husband, Doug, own the old building.
After being a stay-at-home mom for years, Day wanted a place to sell items she loved to shop for a little closer to home.
“I like beautiful things, and I’m always going to Logan to buy stuff. It’s a pain to drive 30 minutes to get everything,” Day tells EastIdahoNews.com.
The shop opened in 2021. There are many decor and boutique items, but the big seller is her homemade candles, which she started “making out of necessity.”
“I wanted to provide a cheaper candle because candles are so expensive, and they don’t have to be,” Day says. “It’s an inexpensive thing to make.”
“My candles are all natural. There’s nothing toxic in them,” Day adds. “I buy really high-quality fragrance oils that are all derived from essential oils so you can burn them in your house and not get any headaches.”
The same is true of her soap, which she says has “simple ingredients.”
Over the last several years, Day has gained a large customer base, not only in Preston, but in other places as well. People from Pocatello and Rigby frequently visit on the weekend. She gets a lot of business from the Providence area south of Logan too.
Day is a regular vendor at shows throughout the state. She’s had a booth at the Eastern Idaho State Fair for years and has two events coming up in Las Vegas and Scottsdale, Arizona.
Day is thrilled to have a marketable product that people enjoy.
“In the beginning, I’d teach classes on how to make candles,” Day says. “I’m getting a little following and people are asking me to do shows, so I feel like I can’t give out those recipes anymore.”
But she appreciates the support and wants to make it more convenient for customers to buy her products. Her next goal is to open an online store.
Doug is impressed with his wife’s talent and is pleased with her success.
“She’s very talented at putting things together, creating things. People are always asking for her help with decorating or designing, so it goes hand in hand with her skillset,” says Doug.
During the summer, DMR Home & Apothecary is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Now that autumn is here, Day will be reducing those hours until after Thanksgiving, which are listed on her Facebook page. She’ll be open Monday through Friday for longer hours during the Christmas season.
DMR, which stands for Day Mountain Ranch, is a brand Day owns with her husband. It includes a gun and knife shop, along with a resort and gun range in the mountains east of town. EastIdahoNews.com took a tour of the resort, which will be highlighted in a future story.
