“This was a very difficult decision,” Griffin-Black says. “With the onset of COVID, to really honor what really needs to happen with having a retail store rather than a manufacturing company, it’s been a labor of love. It’s just time to service our customers and and community in the different way.”
Griffin-Black notes that EO Products will remain widely available in the 94941 at shops like Mill Valley Market, both Whole Foods Markets, Good Earth Natural Foods and Safeway, among others. EO’s ecommerce sales have been growing in recent years, and the COVID-19 crisis created a surge in demand for the company’s hand sanitizer and hand soap product lines.
“When you layer on top of that ecommerce growth that we make hand sanitizer – for several months we were only making hand soap and hand sanitizer – it’s taken a while for us to shift our capacity and focus on manufacturing and shipping,” says Griffin-Black, who co-founded the business with Brad Black in their Potrero Hill garage 25 years ago. “Retail at this time doesn’t honor the work we’ve had to do to keep people safe.”
“And we’ll figure out a way to welcome people into our headquarters in San Rafael at some point – when the tides turn,” she adds.
“It has been an honor and great pleasure to enjoy and be of service to this beautiful downtown community,” says Sabrina Bedell, the shop’s manager for the past several years. “I will miss it!”
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