New business bringing natural goods to Broadway

After a successful opening closer to home, an Illinois woman is launching the second store of her natural goods business in Cape Girardeau.

Breeanna Pearl, owner of The Well by Girly Nature, said her new location at 827 Broadway is aiming for a Friday, Sept. 15, opening. She will sell homemade hair and body wash, home cleaning supplies, dish soap, laundry detergent and other items.

"I want it to be a one-stop shop so you can come in here and get anything you need for your home or your body," Pearl said. "I want to provide products that are all-natural, sustainable and eco-friendly, but they're also affordable."

Pearl started Girly Nature as an online-only brand in February 2022. She was pregnant with her daughter and wanted to work at home to look after her children. Before long, she began selling her products at Cape Riverfront Market.

"That's where my business took off," she said. "Everyone was wanting natural products. I started with soaps and lotions, and I really branched out. ... I feel like there's a need for that, and I want to meet it."

She opened her first Girly Nature store in Anna, Illinois, in May. Like the Cape Girardeau location, it operates as a refillery.

Customers can bring in their own bottles and purchase products by the ounce.

"Buying by the ounce gives the opportunity to make purchasing more sustainable, so you're not creating single-use waste. It also saves the consumer a little bit of money because you're not paying for my time packaging everything," Pearl said.

She originally started selling products in containers, but switched to the refill method to be more sustainable.

"I hand-make about 85% of the products I'll be selling here. Otherwise, I source from other companies that have the same ethics as me, so everything's all natural," Pearl said. "No sulfates, parabens (or) anything like that."

She makes new supplies approximately every two weeks, though sometimes it's more often than that to keep them as fresh as possible.

Pearl will sell the same products as in Anna to start, but will evaluate what's more in-demand in Cape Girardeau and focus on that over time.

Many of her initial customers were young mothers such as herself searching for more sustainable products to use around their children. However, she wants her products to appeal to all demographics.

She said she wants to supply products to businesses as well. Pearl said working in a larger city such as Cape Girardeau, which has nearly 10 times Anna's population, should attract a larger customer base.

The company is truly family-run. Pearl is working with her sister-in-law to make many of the products, and she regularly brings her children, Drayden, 4, and Armarissa, 1, to work with her in Anna.

Pearl plans to operate her Cape Girardeau store Wednesday through Saturday, though the schedule is still being finalized. Updates may be found on The Well by Girly Nature Facebook page.