ReeBee Scents, Resin & Gifts opens in Waterlooville Pop-Up Shop as owner aims to make it a permanent fixture
A Waterlooville woman is hoping her business can become a permanent fixture in the town after becoming the latest inhabitant of Havant Borough Council’s pop-up shop.
ReeBee Scents, Resin & Gifts was started by Marie Peters around 18 months ago as she embarked on creating her own wax melts, a product that she has always loved to use.
Having started off by selling them at market stalls around the area, she quickly grew a large customer base and decided to quit her job to give it all of her focus.
The opportunity to sign up for the pop-up shop with the council then came up and she decided to give it a go.
Marie Peters said: “I was previously in a high-profile rat-race job and decided I wanted to start making wax melts.
“It kind of grew from there and in July, I made the decision I was going to leave my job and give this a go full-time.”
The store sells a range of products made by Marie, as well as stock from other local traders.
It houses wax melts, candles, simmering granules (an alternative to wax melts), body products, hoover discs, carpet freshener, and a number of resin products.
The wax melts, which you burn to release scents into the room, are something that customers keep coming back for.
Marie said: “They're all vegan-friendly, I only use top-end products. My little scoopy jars are really, really popular because they're a bit nicer than a basic wax balm.
“They are really good for little gifts and everything is affordable. One of the other reasons I started was because I like wax melts myself, but they're so expensive, I found myself paying like £7 for a bar of wax.
“I wanted to make something that was more affordable and available for other people. My wax bars are £3.50 each and as good as the ones I used to buy.”
It is serendipitous that Marie has found herself in the pop-up shop in Wellington Way, as it is a space that she has fond memories of. When she was growing up, the unit was occupied by a butchers that her nan would regularly take her too.
The current pop-up tenancy runs out in December and Marie is hoping things go well over the three months and enable her to take over the premises on a more permanent basis.
Marie said: “My plan then is to hopefully keep the contract going, because this is the council's last quarter here, so that if I can take the tenancy over and stay here more permanently, that would be great.”
Watch the full interview with Marie in the video embedded in this article.