Modern Roots takes new spin on body products

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Sarah McCarthy

Being that Modern Roots is all locally made, owner Meg DiMercurio deeply relies on her local buyers to maintain sales. DiMercurio has always felt that quality products do not need to be constantly advertised, to know that it is high quality or not. Her entire business started from word of mouth. She started with farmers market stands, and it eventually let to her very own shop. Customer recommendations became Modern Roots most important form of advertising, and she still heavily relies on it. DiMercurio says, "I rely on my customers to rave about my product because I don't think that me telling people on a billboard that my products great and you should try it, I want my customers to rave about good product."

Modern Roots is a new bath and body shop that has recently been added on Main Street in downtown Stillwater. The store was recently named number one for up and coming stores in the area, and all the store’s hype is worthwhile. The store is filled with body and beauty products that range anywhere from bath bombs to toothpaste, and all have been hand crafted locally with natural ingredients. Modern Roots was created by owner Meg DiMercurio, and the selling of her products have progressed from being given to friends, to being sold at farmers markets, to having her own stores in both Buffalo and now Stillwater.

The store is filled wall to wall with products like soaps, hair products, makeup, solid perfume, acne treatments, bath products, and truly anything you could imagine in the cosmetic field. The shop is locally owned, and all the products are made by hand with care. Due to its local and honest roots, customers can feel confident that the products they are buying are of high quality.

The employees of Modern Roots truly have a passion for the products they are selling, and are extremely reliable and knowledgeable about what the store has to offer. Not only does their knowledge continue to enhance the uniqueness of the store, but the store also has a quaint but modern feel, hence the name Modern Roots. The shop truly has anything anyone could dream of when it comes to beauty products, that will be sure to satisfy anyone.

Modern Roots is a natural and local way to obtain body care products that people have been searching for, at an affordable price. Due the products all being naturally made, DiMercurio hand makes all of the product for sale in the shop, each designed differently. Every product in the store serves a different purpose, and is made each with different ingredients, in order to suit every unique customer. The second customers walk into the store, the amount of variety of product draws customers in. Knowing that they can find anything they could possibly be looking for at an affordable price, keeps making customers come back.

DiMercurio said, “Every item in here was really created with a person in mind, every item is different. So if there is a different skin disorder, I have tried to create a product for that in a very natural way.”

The new local and natural concept of Modern Roots already has people talking. The word about the new high quality products has been getting around Stillwater, as countless new customers are coming and going throughout the store, as well as people informing friends and family of the new business. Modern Roots has already impacted Stillwater, and the store has become a quality convenience for many.

For buyers the natural ingredients used in the product have benefited those with allergies or sensitivities, who have had to spend large sums of money in the past for an un-natural product. For those that once had to order all of their products online, they now have the option to stop in to feel and smell the product firsthand.

Junior Nafiza Hasan explained, “I think it [Modern Roots] will have a good impact on Stillwater. It is always nice to have the option of being able to buy natural products, and to shop locally rather than always needing to rely on not so convenient stores.”

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What makes Modern Roots special is the deeper personal tie the owner Meg DiMercurio has with her stores. Her business all started with her daughter, who was born with a severe skin disease and the expensive products she was originally buying for her daughter were not helping the way they were meant to.

Eventually DiMercurio started making her own successful, and made natural products for her daughter. She became inspired by other mom groups with children with the same disorder to sell her product to others, leading to small farmers market stands, to her own store first in Buffalo, and now in Stillwater. The work DiMercurio does to make her product involved a historic process that she is proud to have learned and developed. This process inspired how she named Modern Roots.

DiMercurio explained, “I named it Modern Roots because the stuff that I do is really rooted in history with stuff that I make. The soap that I make is really 18th century with a modern twist.”

Finally Modern Roots local aspect is an easily likable trait of the shop. Because the products are all made locally, customers know where the product is truly coming from. They also feel that you are supporting your community/area, with small business purchases. Many people in the St. Croix Valley value local product, and Modern Roots fits in perfectly with what our community wants.

Junior Beth Wilcek said, “Buying locally is important because it keeps the money in your area. Shopping at local business gives people a sense of community, and they know where their products are coming from.”

DiMercurio explained, “I have found my passion; and my passion is to make people happy with product, but yet at an affordable price.”