The well known crystal shop in Saint Charles, Peace Love Happy, is an oasis for crystal lovers, vegans and people with sensitive skin. The positive energy and good vibes that Peace Love Happy provides its patrons just adds to the shopping experience. But what many people don’t see when they enter the store is the history behind Peace Love Happy, and how it came to be on Main Street. 

Before becoming a small business owner, Heather Granger was a director and educator for a cosmetology and aesthetics school for 11 years. There, she was inspired to make her own products instead of using the chemicals at her school. One of Peace Love Happy’s most iconic products, The Best Face Wash Ever, actually started at Granger’s cosmetology school with her students. 

“I had a kid literally come running into class asking ‘are we gonna make the best face wash ever?’ and I said that’s what I’m gonna name it,” Granger said. 

Shortly after she began making her skin care products, Granger began selling them at fairs, festivals, and on occasion to her family. Then in 2017, the cosmetology school closed down, but Granger didn’t let that stop her from making her products. Granger moved her work station into the back of an herbalists store, in a cramped five by five space. The store owner was well rehearsed in herbology, and taught Granger a lot about the plants and herbs she uses in her skin care products at Peace Love Happy. 

After nine months of working in the tiny space making her products, she moved to the attic of the Peace Love Happy building, before moving downstairs in February of 2020. Few months after that, Granger’s husband opened a coffee shop in the same building called Peace Love Coffee. The building has been around since 1810 and was occupied by a few businesses before Peace love happy. This lot is one of the oldest lots on Main Street.

“This particular space was a place called Sha’s,” Granger said. “Before that it was a place called Figuero’s, and they sold coffee and teas and hot sauce in the back room. Figuero’s was around since the 1970’s, the basement is the only part [surviving from] 1810.”

Most of Granger’s products are all natural and vegan. She feels it’s important for her products to have straight forward ingredients, which is why she starts with shea butter and herbs in her soaps. However, Granger believes the process of making the skin care products is the most important part. With every bar of soap she uses shungite infused water to give her soap healing properties. And it’s not just her soap bars that she puts positive energy into, all of her skin care products are made with intention. 

“When my sister passed, there was a whole lot of things that happened,” Granger said. “So I kind of ceased making them for a little while because I don’t want someone else to be putting that on their body. To feel anything but the most positive intentions is not something I want you to feel.”

Being a small business owner can be stressful. Granger stated the most difficult part was all the paperwork she has to do. But when your coworkers are also your lifelong friends, it gets a lot easier. Granger has known her coworker James the longest, since they knew each other when Peace Love Happy was still a five by five space. James began working with Granger when they had first moved into Main Street in the attic of the Peace Love Happy building. 

“She got me with stickers,” James said. “They were actually labels. She said ‘look at this!’ and then walked away.”

But James doesn’t complain because everyone at Peace Love Happy is like family. Peace Love Happy even has a shop cat named Bodhi, who is eager to greet every customer who comes into the store, and make them feel like they’re part of the family too.