SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The north end of downtown Sioux Falls is getting ready to welcome a new retail store in a growing area near Main Avenue and Sixth Street.

“A store was a goal years ago for me,” Sweetgrass Soapery Owner Miranda Koltze said.

Koltze is in the process of opening her own storefront after years of growth in her business.

“We’ve been around the area now with farmers markets and things peddling soap for the last eight years,” Koltze said.

The business grew out of her family’s produce table at farmers markets around the region.

“I had started making soap as a resource of making use of every single little thing on our farm,” Koltze said.

The unique natural touches on her handmade soaps helped her business take off.

“We grow a lot of the things we use, so its herbal based, from the ground up,” Koltze said. “We started to sell it just to fill our table and before we knew it it was going faster and faster and faster and nobody really cared about our vegetables anymore.”

The pandemic took away many of the farmers markets and craft fair opportunities to sell last year, but still, her business grew.

“We had the best year we ever had in 2020,” she said. “Now I’m busting out about 300 bars a week.”

She expects about half of her store to be filled with her soaps, but the other half will be the All Walks Trading Company.

“We want to be a supply and go to store for folks who are looking for things like bulk herbs especially things like sage and sweet grass, we’ve got people coming in with jewelry, lots of beautiful beaded Native American jewelry, we want to make sure that everything is as local and South Dakota made as possible,” Koltze said.

She’s using her Native American roots to help fill a void the Sioux Falls retail scene has had for a number of years. 

“We started to see a lot more of the Native American population come to see us at the Falls Park farmers market for things like sage and had tons of questions about where to find hand beaded jewelry, regalia materials and beading supplies….so there is definitely a need for that,” Koltze said.

Right now she plans to open her retail store in Mid March and will release the opening date soon on her website and social media pages.