Moon River Soap Company Hits Whole Foods Shelves in Midtown Detroit

Rochester's Moon River Soap Company made a splash in the Detroit area Wednesday, appearing at the grand opening of Whole Foods, 115 Mack Ave. in Midtown Detroit.

Moon River, which creates and sells all-natural soaps from its downtown Rochester storefront at 339 East St., will have 24 different soaps including four baby soaps, four bath and body oils and six varieties of lip balm on the shelves of the new Whole Foods store.

"We're very excited about it," said Liz Aprea of Moon River Soap Company. "We went in with just our soap for an appointment and they loved what we brought in."

Aprea said Whole Foods has an easier process for getting into stores than many major grocers, which helps open the gates for small, independent businesses such as Moon River.

"They don't expect you to have a distributor, we either mail or drop off the products on our own," she said. "It's kind of handy for a small company that doesn't yet have a distributor."

There currently are five Whole Foods locations in Michigan, including one in Rochester Hills. The Midtown Detroit store currently is the only location currently stocking Moon River's soaps, but Aprea didn't rule out eventually appearing at more locations, including the Rochester Hills store. 

"We are trying to grow one step at a time and we always want to make sure our Moon River store is stocked," she said.