Meet Rosie's Market

Rosie’s Market, run by West Milford local, Hana Sabol, was named to represent an older time when products were made naturally, with real ingredients. 

“When I started the business then I knew it was important for me to be 100% truly natural,” Hana said. “Not natural with fragrances, not natural with synthetic add-ins.”

Hana chose the name “Rosie” to accompany her market’s fifties-style logo as a nod to her grandmother.

Although Hana began selling all-natural soaps and candles in  2015, the business was rebranded as “Rosie’s Market” in 2020 to represent a more diversified product list. In addition to her signature soaps and soy candles, Hana also sells other self-care products, as well as sage, crystals and sustainably sourced, therapeutic-grade essential oils and roll-ons. 

Nothing but quality inside

What Hana finds most important in her business is leaving out all of the unnecessary or non-natural ingredients from skincare. What’s left is skin care (and candles) in their purest, cleanest form.

“My focus is making sure the product is quality, that it’s coming from the best place possible, that I’m keeping it at the best price possible,” Hana said.

Hana takes care when sourcing the essential oils that fragrance her soaps and candles. She believes it is important to trust her distributor, and only uses 100% therapeutic grade, steam-distilled essential oils from a company she trusts. Despite the wide-spread inflation of prices, she’s doing her best to continue to remain affordable, because she believes everyone should be able to access naturally-made products. Although the labels may not say so, she sources organic ingredients whenever possible. If you have a question about what’s in one of her items, simply ask! 

Rosie’s Market in Brick and Mortar

Rosie has stepped away from regular farmers market appearances since opening her storefront in June of 2023 at the Belcher’s Run Shopping Center (1608 Union Valley Rd. West Milford, NJ). The items you remember and love from market can all be found there, alongside goods from other local artisans.

“[Opening a store] is something I always wanted to do in the back of my mind,” Hana said. “Then, one thing led to another, and this location opened up and. Since it was something I always thought about doing, I decided to go all the way.”

Although getting customers to walk through the door is more difficult than she thought it would be, Hana loves seeing her regulars, and recognizing familiar faces from market. 

The structure of Hana’s business model shifted with the storefront. In addition to the gift shop, Hana runs workshops and classes there, like soap or candle making workshops. She also has brought other vendors in to host events, such as a recent sound bath meditation and healing. Although Hana is still appearing at farmers markets, including West Milford Farmers’ Market, which she helps sponsor, much of her time is now spent on location in Belcher’s Run. 

‘[Having a storefront] is similar in setting up your location, but there are a lot of in and outs  to running a store that weren’t there before [when I was just doing markets].”

Getting the Rosie’s Market Recipes Right

Soap is her signature item, and how she began the business eight years ago. This wasn’t an instance of “trying a recipe online, then selling it,” she said. Hana conducted plenty of independent research, then tested and refined her recipe long before she began selling. She knew she had the right recipe when the soap had great lather, all the cleansing properties one wants in a bar of soap, and was long-lasting. 

Hana’s soaps are made with coconut oil, rather than traditional palm oil. That’s because through her research, she realized that although palm oil is renowned for its lathering properties, it is highly processed, and not environmentally sustainable. That doesn’t mean her soaps don’t have great lather, though. Hana continued working at her recipe until she got the lather people love, without environmentally difficult or overly-processed or synthetic ingredients. 

As with her soaps, Hana’s candles have no dyes or artificial fragrances. The slow-and-clean burning candles are made simply from 100% soy, fragranced with pure essential oils, providing a slow-burning, low-soot candle. 

“I spent time trying to perfect a product I can stand behind and be proud of,” she said. “But there’s always room for improvement.”

Finding the right scents

Many of her aromatherapy products, like her soaps, come in her pre-blended signature scents. Lemongrass and lavender was her first signature scent and she said it’s still incredibly popular eight years later. However, rose and rose geranium is a newer blend that is rapidly rising to (perhaps?) take its place in popularity. She’s also created blends and products based on customer feedback.

“I always try to listen to what customers are asking for and incorporate the items my customers are asking of me.”

Find Hana via her website www.rosiesnaturalmarket.com where orders over $75 ship for free, or visit her brick and mortar:

Belcher’s Run Shopping Center 

1608 Union Valley Rd. West Milford, NJ