How 25p bath bombs led to firm fizzing with success
FATHER-AND-SON entrepreneurs are celebrating their business’ fifth anniversary after expanding it from a market stall to a high street store.
Dave and Steve Easterbrook launched Fizzy Foam with four large bars of handmade soap – which they would cut to size for customers – and a few baskets of 25p bath bombs.
Now they can be found at The Rhiw Shopping Centre and are stockists of premium American brand Yankee Candle, hand- made Bomb Cosmetics and fragrance lamp maker Ashleigh and Burwood of London.
Dave, 27, said they are a Bridgend success story and believe their growth mirrors a turning point in the town.
“Now we are down here we are four times busier,” said Dave, 27.
“Our main thing was to be a family business that put something back into the town.
“A lot of people put Bridgend down, but we are here. Our long-term aim is to get Bridgend trading to where it needs to.
“I think the daytime trade is definitely up. The two hours’ free parking in the Rhiw multi-storey and all of the festivals are helping. It’s just about getting people back into the habit of coming into town.”
Both former employees of Currys PC World – with Dave also being a former host on BridgeFM – the pair took the plunge selling bath bombs in 2012.
“We thought, ‘what can we do?’ and my girlfriend used to love bath bombs but she was buying them from a shop in Porthcawl because there was nowhere in Bridgend doing it,” Dave said.
With little money to put into the business, the pair started off with a small amount of stock, which included mini bath bombs called chill pills, which they sold for 25p each.
They were so popular that just six months later they had to move Fizzy Foam into a larger stall, before moving out of the market altogether in 2014 and onto Nolton Street.
Last Christmas they tried a pop-up shop in The Rhiw Shopping Centre – home to high street names including WHSmith and Boots – and, after customers started requesting that stock only available in Nolton Street was brought down to the Rhiw, they decided to make the move permanent.
“When we secure a fulltime lease with the Rhiw we will refit the shop and put some investment in,” Dave added.
“I don’t want to go and buy a Porsche next week. We want to give something back to Bridgend.”