Business Profile: Expect Natural, Bedford Hills
Taking her passion for organic products and turning it into a brick-and-mortar business has been an exciting development for local entrepreneur Ayo Hart.
Jennifer McKenna Photography
Hart celebrated the recent opening of her Bedford Hills store, Expect Natural, which features unique children’s gifts and essentials.
For the past four years, she and her husband, Nigel, have run a successful online business called Dolphin Organics, which offers a line of personal care products for babies and young children.
While the company continues to be successful, Hart said she felt she was missing out on face-to-face time with customers that only a retail business could provide, so the couple decided to take their love of organic products a step further.
“I like to think of the store as the Whole Foods of gift shops,” said Hart, who coaches girls’ high school basketball in her spare time.
The unique items she sells are high-quality, all-natural products, most of which are American made.
The market for Hart’s merchandise is certainly growing, as many younger moms in particular are becoming more educated about the benefits of organic products. Hart, a friendly mother of eight-year-old twin girls, said a lot has changed since her children were born, including a renewed interest in homeopathic medicines and the use of cloth diapers.
Before anything reaches her 1,500-square-foot store, Hart said she scrutinizes each product. She goes to a number of trade shows a year to see and feel the items she’s interested in buying.
Some of her personal favorites include a natural first-aid kit from a company called 3 Girls Holistic that includes an organic wound salve, wound wash, roll-on injury oil and pure bentonite clay for bug bites, poison ivy, itchy skin and burns. She also likes the company’s nipple cream for moms who are breastfeeding. For tweens who’ve visited the store, the holistic lip balm line is popular, she said.
Favorite toymakers include Janod, a French company that offers a line of learning toys for young children. Its magnets, science toys and building sets can all be found at Expect Natural. The Artterro line of eco-friendly, project-based toys is also at the top of her list, as are Automoblox wooden cars that encourage open-ended play.
Eco-friendly play dough, finger paints and crayons as well as coloring kits are also available at Expect Natural. Parents can also find the “Draw Your Own” storybook collection of books for young children that encourages them to draw pictures based on different stories. Hart discovered the adorable series during a family visit to England.
Her Dolphin products, including natural shampoo for children and babies, sunscreen and other bath time essentials, are also for sale. For tweens, Hart carries a variety of natural nail polishes and perfume containing natural oils. Soon she hopes to offer jewelry from a local designer.
Eager to promote sustainability, Hart works with a number of fair trade partners, including Little Gabies, an Ethiopian company that uses 100 percent organic woven cotton.
Other brands you’ll find on Expect Natural shelves include Jack and Jill Toothpaste, Sarooni blankets, AXL onesies and footsies, Piggy Paint polish and more.
Always thinking up new ideas, Hart has additional plans for her fledgling store, which includes opening the large space behind the retail area for birthday parties, classes and basketball clinics.
“I want this to be a community resource,” said Hart. “I’m really excited now; it’s becoming more than what I had first imagined.”
Expect Natural is located at 774 N. Bedford Rd. in Bedford Hills. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. To book a birthday party or other event, request a custom-made gift basket or to order from the store’s monogramming service, call 914-242-4685.
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