Talking Shop with Debbie Hadler Statler of Grandma Bea's All-Natural Products

Debbie Hadler Statler has had a long-running interest in natural products and home remedies. She created Grandma Bea's All-Natural Products and recently opened a storefront in an old bank in Perryville. She specializes in homemade, all-natural products, home remedies, produce and more.

Q: What is Grandma Bea's All-Natural Products?

A: Grandma Bea's is an old-fashioned general store. We have an all-natural line of products that I started making for family needs. Everything we do is natural and frugal. I make deodorants, laundry soap and pain relievers, which is my biggest seller. It's made from essential oils, and I made it for my family's joint pain to help without having to use medication. We make shampoos and conditioners and Healing Hands for dry skin.

I started making products five or six years ago for my family. We launched last year with just a little blurb on Facebook that went crazy and started snowballing. I quit my job as a nurse last June.

We started selling produce. My brother has experience, and we decided to take the leap. We thought we'd have an old-fashioned produce stand.

Everyone thinks their grandmother's the greatest person in the world. Mine was a wholesome, down-home person. We use stuff from her farm for decoration. When you come here you get the feeling you've taken a step back in time.

We offer the best products and prices and the best deals and quality. One good thing is we can keep an eye on the produce, If we see something we don't like, we can just take it off the shelf.

We started carrying homemade jams and jellies from an Amish family and organic wild honey, and aprons by my sister-in-law and afghans made by my mother.

We're looking to expand, and carry more merchandise like homegrown herbs and spices. When it gets nice outside, we'll put up hanging plants.

This is a family operation and we're looking to have Saturday activities to bring in families like sidewalk chalk, all-natural Play-Doh with essential oils and bluegrass music.

A display with a picture of Debbie Hadler’s maternal grandmother, Beatrice Hager, is a feature of Grandma Bea’s in Perryville, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Q: How did you start making home remedies and sharing them with others?

A: A lot of people think I came up with the formulas off of the Internet. I've always lived in the country, and I found a lot of the products from reading books. I have a diary from a pioneer woman. I research each ingredient. I started to help my family, and I know what's going on the body.

My grandma, Beatrice Hager, was the most amazing person. She grew up in the country, and I have fond memories. She lived a simple, frugal life. She didn't waste anything, and would always find another use for something. She wasn't fancy and only used necessary ingredients. Someone asked if I was going to have flavored lip balm, and I said it doesn't need it. She had a huge impact on my life. She taught Sunday school and Bible school, and everyone called her "Aunt Bea" if she was or not.

She passed away 22 years ago, and it feels like she's right here. We can still hear her laugh. She's the sort of person who would be embarrassed to have a store named after her. The greatest compliment is when someone comes in and asks about her. We still have that connection, and people will come in with shared memories.

Q: Where do you get your ingredients?

A: We order online with Young Living Essential Oils. We grow as much as possible. For example, my sister-in-law's mother grows lavender. We are careful with our suppliers.

Q: You opened during a difficult time for businesses. How did you decide to take the leap?

A: It was scary. We talked about it for some time and we did a test run that first year. I didn't dream of opening a store. Our growth for the first-year projections were right on. We opened the store with very little debt and built it slowly. One advantage was to have low overhead and low investment. Without family support, there's no way we could have done it. The community support was overwhelming, and there was a need for this type of store in the Perryville area with all-natural products.

Q: What are the benefits of doing business in a small town? What are the challenges?

A: One benefit is the community support. Family is another; we get to see family all the time. Word of mouth advertising has been our No. 1 way of advertising. And being in a small town, there's less competition for this type of store.

Some of the challenges are word of mouth, if we make a mistake it would travel fast. Traffic can be a challenge. We're in a good location. Lack of local suppliers is another challenge. Sometimes we can't get local items. We hope to get local produce.

Q: How have you marketed yourself to bring in customers from outside Perryville?

A: Facebook and word of mouth. Before we opened the store we did deliveries to Cape and Jackson and would go to vendor fairs and craft fairs. The local online paper ran an article on us and that helped us out a lot.

Q: What advice would you give to other people who want to transform a passion into a business?

A; Lots of planning. Family support is huge, not financial support but just having family. Keep out-of-pocket expenses as low as possible. People think you have to go thousands of dollars into debt to open a small business, and we proved that wrong. This has been a very positive experience. It's been great to see other people come in and support us. We've also gotten support of other businesses in town. It's nice to have other business owners come in and offer congratulations. Perryville is lucky that we have businesses that are neighbor helping neighbor.

Q: Anything else people should know?

A: Just that our kids have been a huge help and are supportive and helpful.

Grandma Bea's All-Natural Products is at 1015 S. Perryville Blvd., and is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday. It can be found on line at www.gmabeas.com and on Facebook.

apicar@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address: 1015 S. Perryville Blvd