A Niles business received a unique opportunity this month.
Lisa Miller, owner of Forever Clean Soap Works, was contacted by an out-of-state resident to contribute several of her products to gift baskets for some women at the San Francisco Giants Training Camp in Scottsdale, Arizona. The products were shipped off on March 4.
Miller has run the Niles business for three years and handcrafts each of the colorful and unique products on her shelves.
“I make everything right here behind these walls, where the magic happens,” Miller said Thursday afternoon.
In addition to creating her own recipes for the products, Miller also creates her own labels, giving her room for plenty of creativity.
When Miller created the basket’s bath bombs, she took the time to paint them individually to look like baseballs.
Nestled among several other gifts, each of the five welcome baskets will include the baseball bath bombs, coffee bean body scrub and pina colada lip balm. Each product has a specially designed orange and black label, complete with baseballs, bats and the hashtag, #oddyearmagic, because the team is rumored to do well on odd numbered years.
For Miller, it is a chance to showcase her products and to help put Niles on the map.
“It is cool that they [will] have some products, but I hope as soon as they use them, they will say ‘these are the best products I have ever had,’” Miller said. “And they will be ordering stuff off our website.”
The woman who contacted Miller is a frequent customer with family in Niles. She did not want to release her name for the story, but is said to be in charge of creating the welcome basket for the training camp.
“She liked my products. That is how she knew about me,” Miller said. “She wanted to use some local stuff in the baskets.”
Miller said her products are unique because they are handmade and utilize natural products such as oils and butters. She also makes wine and beer soaps, created from locally sourced alcohol. Using wine and beer in the soap creates incredible bubbles, Miller said.
Among her most popular buys are also the loofah soaps, which utilizes locally grown Baroda loofahs. The loofahs are embedded into colorful soap cakes, with a variety of fresh scents.
“Nobody knows much about loofas,” Miller said. “They are actually grown like a zucchini.”
The soaps are detergent free, which keeps the product from drying out the skin.
In addition to soaps, Miller creates creams, lotions and salves, as well as products for men, including beard products.
Each of the colorful and artfully designed products is unique and the clean scent carries down the block.
Since creating products, some customers have expressed interest in the baseball bath bombs. Miller said they would only be available through special order.
“I hope it puts us on the map,” Miller said. “All of a sudden it will be like there is Niles, because that is where that really cool soap store is.”

What to know:

HOURS: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday
LOCATION: 281 N. Front St., Niles
PHONE: (269) 449-0542
ONLINE: forevercleasoapworks.com or facebook.com/ForeverCleanSoap Works