Spirit Coaching And Body Scrub Go Hand In Hand At All-Encompassing Holistic Lifestyle Shop RadRitual

As beauty pushes beyond basic prettying products, RadRitual demonstrates the breadth of the category. The Pittsburgh store incorporates energy healing, spirit coaching, animal reiki and CBD merchandise as well as natural lipsticks, eyeshadows, foundations, setting powders, serums, body scrubs and soaps. “RadRitual is a destination for holistic living. I started just with nontoxic makeup and skincare, but we have grown into offering healthier alternatives to the things that people use in all areas of their lives,” says founder Chloe Nordlander. “It has become much more well-rounded, and that’s our goal.” Taking a cue from her store’s expansive selection, Beauty Independent had a comprehensive conversation with Nordlander touching on using tinctures, leaving New York, supporting small retailers during the holidays, stocking beauty brands and moving RadRitual.

Tell us about your professional background.

I grew up in New York City and lived there until I went away to college in Massachusetts. I got my undergraduate degree in international development and social change from Clark University in Worcester. In my junior year, I became heavily interested in social entrepreneurship. It totally changed the direction of what I wanted to do. I ended up going back to New York for graduate school, and I started at a program there at the New School, which was primarily for non-profit management, but I chose the program for its concentration on social entrepreneurship. While I was there, I started working with startups in New York. Because I was already working and doing something I loved and was learning so much, I left the program and was able to give all my time to independent startups, which gave me insights into the ins and outs of running a business. The company that I was with the longest and learned the most from was called Duka. It was amazing. Two childhood friends started the company and repurposed kangas, which are traditional textiles in Kenya. It combined my passion for entrepreneurship and international development, but also crossed over into the fashion and beauty industry in New York.

How did you get interested in opening a store?

I had a family member who’s about my age — she was in her mid- to late-20s at the time — diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. I started researching why so many women are diagnosed with diseases that they really shouldn’t be getting, and making the connection with unregulated ingredients and chemicals in mainstream beauty products. I began making my own products, and I developed connections with people in the non-toxic beauty community through social media. I decided I wanted to open a business to support the people who were already doing a good job with products as opposed to making my own products. I moved from New York to Pittsburgh. A few months after I moved, I opened RadRitual in our original space. It’s really been growing physically and conceptually since the open.

Why did you move from New York to Pittsburgh?

I moved in April 2016. For a while, I had known that I wanted to live somewhere other than New York, but I hadn’t figured out where. Very close family friends had moved to Pittsburgh. One of them used to be a diehard New Yorker, and she fell in love with it. They convinced me to come visit in January 2016. I stayed with them and immediately knew it was where I was going to go. I hadn’t seen the environment for young entrepreneurs that’s here anywhere else. It’s incredibly creative and supportive. People genuinely want you to succeed. It’s so affordable that young entrepreneurs are able to experiment and be more fearless. It’s not like in New York, where, if you try to start something and it fails, you are drained of everything.

RadRitual is in its second location. When did it open in its first location?

I opened in our original location on a street called Penn Avenue in November last year. Just about two months ago, we relocated to the new location. We had some issues with the original space, and we had to leave that space. There were health hazards. Of course, it was extremely stressful to have a move that wasn’t necessarily planned for, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. Now, we are in a really cute neighborhood called Shadyside. We are on a street called Ellsworth. It’s a developed business area and, on our street, there are businesses that have been here for decades and will be here for the next few decades, too. There are also new wellness-centered businesses, which are cool for us. It’s a great mix of old and new, and everyone wants to see the best for the neighborhood. It has a very small-town, Main Street vibe, which is adorable, and we’re very happy to be here.

How many brands does RadRitual carry?

We have between 20 and 25 right now. We sell a lot of Captain Blankenship. We recently started stocking a brand called Joon. They have beautiful hair oil that does really well. In makeup, people are nuts about Clove + Hallow. I also try to stock some brands that aren’t easy to find. We carry Faerie Organic, which has super high quality makeup and skincare ranges. It’s not really well-known, but people love it, and the prices are really great.

Do you tend to pick up full lines?

We will carry a full line. Most of the brands that we work with currently are smaller, and we are able to bring in all of their products. As we have grown, we have expanded into larger companies and, with them, I will select a product based on what the store needs or what customers are asking for if the range is too wide for us to bring in right away. It’s been really cool because a lot of the companies I started with are growing, too. They come out with new products, shades and lines, and it’s fun for us to grow alongside them. We are really excited when we get to bring in new releases, and our customers get excited for those things, too.

Do you have an amount of merchandise you prefer to order when you bring in a new line?

It’s different for each brand. I work with one-product brands and, for them, we do pretty small orders. With a lot of companies, we might set quantities at six for one product. It definitely varies, but anywhere between four and six is pretty standard for units with a new brand that we are testing. We find it easier as a small curated space to do smaller orders to see what does well and what we will end up needing to reorder more.

How do you discover brands for RadRitual?

When I was making my own products, I was really active on social media. So, I originally brought in many companies such as Erin’s Faces that I had connected with prior to moving. As we have grown, I met a lot of brand owners and saw newer brands at Indie Beauty Expo. I went with my mom to this past Indie Beauty Expo, and we met with Joon and Clove + Hallow. It’s a really great resource for finding new products to bring in.

How do you suggest brands pursueRadRitual?

Reaching out via social media or with a phone call is great. I personally try everything that I sell. So, I typically work with brands that are open to sending testers or who want the stores that carry them to have experience with their products. RadRitual is a very curated space. We are quite minimal aesthetically, and I like to keep the selection very much curated in terms of bringing in the best quality products and brands that speak to that quality. Also, I like having brands that are easy to work with. It’s not like these are giant companies where you speak to robots and computers the whole time. Most of the companies that I work with, I’m on a first-name basis with the owners, and that’s really important. It brings more of a human experience into the store for our customers.

What can brands do to build their sales at RadRitual?

If they have a big follower base or even a lot of website views, they can make customers who might be local to us aware that their products are available for purchase in a brick-and-mortar. We have had a couple of companies sell out of certain products and direct orders to us for the sold-out products. It’s good for companies to check in with their brick-and-mortars and say, “Hey, we are sold out of these products. Do you have any so we can direct orders to you?” Communication and cross-promotional opportunities are really helpful.

Where does the energy healing component come into play?

Makeup and skincare are meant to uplift us and contribute to our inner beauty, not just outer beauty, which is why clean ingredients are also very important because it’s about holistic health. The healing part also contributes to holistic health. You can’t just slap some makeup on your face, and everything is all good. Many of my clients are focused on all aspects of healing, so they will come in looking to transition their products to healthier alternatives and, in turn, they come in for energy healing to get spirit-based cleansing as well.

What is an energy healing session like?

The most common session is one hour. They are very in-depth. First, I run through some general checking-in questions, especially if the client is new. I will ask if there’s anything specific they want to focus on or if they would like to leave it open. Then, we get to the healing portion. My sessions are based on the reiki tradition, but I also use crystals, sound healing, aromatherapy and intuitive readings. I studied in a program that was over a year, and we learned reiki as well as practices that were beyond the reiki tradition. Toward the end, I leave time to give them feedback, and they can ask questions. The can email at any point after and have access to me as a guide. I do regular work with a lot of my clients. It’s evolved to spiritual coaching.

What do you think of the state of physical retail?

Obviously, online has taken over a lot of what used to be done in physical spaces. I personally do most of my shopping online. Only certain types of brick-and-mortar businesses are going to succeed in a world filled with online shopping. A lot of people come to our space as almost a healing destination, which I think keeps as afloat at a time what would normally be very difficult for a brick-and-mortar space. The type of products that we have combined with the non-tangible offering in our space is a really unique mix that keeps people wanting to come here in person.

Is there a product segment that’s poised to get bigger at RadRitual?

The place my mind goes to immediately to answer that question is CBD. CBD products are relatively new to our area. There is so much interest because CBD is a powerful alternative to many things, and it has a taboo around it, which always draws people. Pretty much everything with CBD in it flies off our shelves. What has been selling out most frequently is the tinctures. That’s an oil-based product that’s really versatile, and it’s also comfortable for beginners as well as the more experienced. You can put it on the skin or use it as a supplement. We have noticed a lack of really high-quality CBD skincare products and are currently working with another local shop to address that. Hopefully, it will come out in the next few months. We want it to be perfect.

What have you learned about the holiday season during RadRitual’s short tenure so far?

We have found that the holidays are a hard time to be a small, independently-owned business, which a lot of people don’t expect. In our first year and now this year, we have a week or two of a boom in gift shopping, but, apart from that, I would say we have learned things like Black Friday and Cyber Monday – all those constant sales – hurt small businesses, unfortunately.

Is there a way to improve the holiday shopping season for small retailers?

I hope so. It seems to be more of a big-box store experience, and we can’t compete with that. A lot of people, especially in Pittsburgh, save up and wait for the big-box stores to have big sales so they can buy things like appliances and televisions. By the time they get around to our little shop, they are spent. Pittsburgh has a lot of locally-focused publications and websites that try to boost local small businesses, and Small Business Saturday is really great. I guess we need more of that to take the focus a little bit off of the big-box stores and put it back on how shopping locally can really boost the economy of the city.

In general, how is RadRitual’s business faring?

With our change of location, it has massively increased, which is amazing. We’re in a completely new ballgame. I refer to the original space as my practice. Since we moved, we’ve exceeded expectations. It’s very interesting how location can play into a business’s sales.

What are efforts you are making to grow RadRitual going forward?

Definitely expanding into broader areas in the holistic lifestyle realm. I’ve connected with local companies making organic hemp products, and they have flexibility to create things with us. I will add holistic and sustainable clothing lines, and get our hands on a wider range of products to offer people to expand much farther than what we started out with.