The one-stop eco-friendly shop Geelong loves, and the owners it loves more

At first glance, it is Geelong’s beauty hub for all things sustainable and non-toxic.

But to the store’s many loyal customers, Natural Supply Co is just as well-known for its bubbly “twinning” owners, Celeste Robertson and Sarah Scott.

Each night, Robertson and Scott text each other to co-ordinate a matching outfit for the next day.

“We did it by mistake the first time… and it was just so much fun that we started doing it regularly,” Robertson said.

The happy accident on one business trip to Melbourne quickly became a fully-fledged hobby, and the two now have dozens of matching outfits.

“It’s fun, we message each other the night before about, depending on weather and what’s clean and what’s not, what we’re going to wear,” Scott said.

“It’s kind of nice because you’ve always got someone else to help you work out what you’re going to wear the next day.”

The celebration of friendship seems fitting at Natural Supply Co, where the team has been like family since the beginning.

Natural Supply Co began in 2014, as an online store started by Robertson and another good friend Catherine Brooks.

The pair invited Scott to join the team a year later, bringing her background in dermatology nursing, holistic health and love of natural beauty products.

Brooks since left to spend more time with her family, but Scott and Robertson said the three were all still good friends, and the mission hasn’t changed.

“Our vision is to be the destination for all things organic and zero waste.” Robertson said.

“We really wanted to have all the supplies people need, so if you’re getting pads, or toothpaste for your kids, or your skin care or make up or a reusable coffee cup, you can get a few things at once and not pay shipping, don’t have to go to multiple places.

“It’s better for the environment to not be shipping multiple parcels, and you’re choosing products that you know are clean for the environment.”

Before starting Natural Supply Co., Robertson worked in the beauty industry for many years, loving beauty products, and beautiful things, for as long as she can remember: makeup, skincare, gorgeous candles, luxe packaging.

From managing a fragrance counter at Myer to running the online beauty store Adore Beauty, Robertson has worked in the beauty industry for much of her career.

Over the years, as her desire to live in a more eco-friendly and natural way grew, she became more aware about reducing plastic and consuming chemical-ridden products, and her love shifted towards natural products.

Scott, studied nursing and holistic health and fell in love with the beauty industry as a young girl stealing her mother’s cold creams.

Before joining the Natural Supply Co. team, Scott studied nursing, worked in dermatology, and studied and holistic health, which she said gave her a balanced appreciation for health and beauty from a holistic and herbal perspective.

“I’ve been interested in health and wellbeing but it had morphed into a real eco-friendly, toxin-free thing as well which made a really good fit with Natural Supply Co.”

As wife of Geelong Cats coach Chris Scott, she has also travelled extensively and is always looking for ways to simplify the sustainability and non-toxic lifestyle.

Because of this, Scott said she was on a constant quest to find products that are easily usable products at a good value that will be effective enough to keep up with her somewhat nomadic lifestyle.

Scott and Roberston are both mothers, and this is something they say has given them vision and direction for the store.

For Robertson, she hopes helping reducing plastic usage in her household will mean her six-year-old son Charlie gets to grow up where single-use plastics aren’t thought of as the norm.

For Scott, she wants her daughter Leila to have access to chemical-free products.

Both Scott and Robertson said at Natural Supply Co family comes first.

“It’s really important for us that our business reflects out lifestyle and it doesn’t cause any more stress than it needs to and we make it family friendly so that it works for us,” Robertson said.

“And also for the girls working for us – we’re all young mums, we’re open 10 to 3 so we can all do school drop offs and pick-ups.”

In June 2020, the pair decided to move the online store into a shop.

“It was still running out of Celeste’s garage at this stage and very much a home-based small business,” Scott said.

“At that point we had already outgrown Celeste’s garage, and we were tripping over boxes and we decided we just had to take the plunge.”

The pair said while opening the shop in the middle of 2020 was a huge risk and presented many challenges, it has been the highlight of the Natural Supply Co journey so far.

“For me as well it’s been so nice removing the business from my house and having that separation between work and family.” Robertson said.

“Not two years into having a shop front it’s been the best thing we’ve ever done, because really it increased our business so much more than we thought it would.

“It was a bit of a challenging time, because when we opened it was in between lockdown one and two so we obviously didn’t know the scale of what was to come, but we were so lucky because that we had been online for a good six years so we already had that really loyal customer base, which is what helped us stay alive, really.”

Since opening the store, Scott and Robertson said they had built invaluable relationships with the community.

“Something that we’ve really loved as well is getting to know the rest of the community and meeting all these people who are as interesting in sustainability as we are,” Scott said.

“There are a lot of people who prefer not to shop online and want to have a chat and ask questions and touch and feel.

“It’s really helped us grow the business and also connect with people, because being just online you don’t get that face-to-face contact.”

 

The pair noted another highlight had been working with their employees since opening the store, all of whom are mothers.

“It’s not intentional, everyone we’ve hired has been a customer, and we most of our customers tend to be women, so it just worked out that way,” Robertson said.

“Because we have over 150 products now, to try and hire someone who doesn’t use the products or life the lifestyle, the amount of training that would be needed would be too much, and if you don’t already use plastic free and chemical free products it’s hard to explain why you should use that.”

 

Having hired previous customers, all with so much in common, the pair said all the team gets along wonderfully.

“It’s like working with friends really, it’s a small shop and we know about each other’s lives. We always talk about it as our natural supply co family, and that’s what it feels like.”

But the pair are not opposed to having men come on board.

“My husband comes in on Fridays and does some cleaning, and brings coffee and croissant,” Robertson said.

“He does the things we’re sick of doing, taking out the rubbish and recycling.”

“And he lifts boxes for us,” Scott added.

 

In the future, Robertson and Scott said they are looking forward to focusing more on sustainable fashion, which will also give them a practical use to show off their twinning outfits each day.

“We talk a lot about what success means to us, and it’s not bigger better faster stronger. It’s looking at our lifestyle and what the business affords us with flexibility and work life balance,” Scott said.

“I think we’re so lucky and happy with what we’re doing and that we get to do it with each other and with a great group of women.

“Things are working really well, and we want to keep it that way, we don’t want to get bigger just for the sake of it.”

To see the latest in the Natural Supply Co. journey, follow Natural Supply Co on Instagram or head to naturalsupplyco.com .