Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's On the Ground Calhoun County series.

Kristal Smith is seeing green, not the kind associated with envy, but one that focuses on reducing the number of items that end up in recycling bins or landfills.
 
Her vision will become a reality in February when she officially opens Artique in Bedford Township. The business will feature items including organic shampoos and conditioners, laundry soap, and toothpaste tablets created by local and regional vendors who share their commitment to cutting down on the packaging holding these products. There also will be antiques, refurbished furniture, crocheted items, and paintings among other things, made by local artisans.
 
“If they want to take full advantage of what I want this place to be, they can bring in their own containers and fill them up with the products we’ll be stocking,” Smith says. “They also will be able to buy bottles and bags from us that they can bring in to get refilled.”
 
Owner Kristal Smith at the reception area inside ArtiqueThe items on Artique’s shelves are being carefully curated by Smith. She says the shampoos and conditioners are all-natural, high-end products as are the laundry detergents made by Michigan-based Molly’s Suds.
 
A soap base for these laundry detergents made with olive and lye also will be available so that people will be able to create their own preferred scents.
 
With the exception of the Molly’s Suds products which Smith is purchasing wholesale, Artique’s other vendors and the artists will be charged a nominal fee to secure space for their items in the store located in a two-story building at 1041 North Avenue which formerly housed Temple Baptist Church.
 
“I won’t be receiving any commissions and I won’t be charging them extra for using the shopping bags we’ll have,” Smith says. “Artists don’t have a lot of money to put into paying rent. I’ll be making money on the rental fees and the refillery part of the business.”
 
Inside view of ArtiqueEventually, she plans to produce the laundry soap herself but will continue to stock some Molly’s Suds products.
 
The store’s concept came about when she came across a YouTube video called Keep it Simple Honolulu which featured a woman walking viewers through the process of using refillable containers for shampoos and conditioners.
 
She then had a conversation with her son, Brandon, who told her that a business like this would do well in the Battle Creek area based on what he’d been hearing about increased efforts to be a more environmentally aware community.
 
Remodeled bathroom inside ArtiqueBrandon Smith, who has made a name for himself as a Graphic Designer, will be working alongside his mother at Artique. She says she is confident that the business will do well based on previous successes she’s had.
 
Prior to this latest venture, she was an Assistant Manager at a local Walgreen’s followed by the opening of a dog grooming business in Pennfield Township where she lives.
 
“I left (Walgreen’s) because I have always danced to my own tune and didn’t want to follow everyone else and make them rich. I wanted to do that for myself,” Smith says.
 
Office area inside ArtiqueShe never put money into the advertisement of the dog grooming business, relying instead on word-of-mouth referrals. For her current business venture, she has a Facebook page under the moniker Artique Merchantile and is hoping for the same type of person-to-person exposure.
 
That page was how she put out a call to the vendors and artisans who will have a presence in her store.
 
“I got 22 vendors right off the bat,” Smith says. She also handed out flyers at a craft fair at Pennfield High School and local antique businesses.
 
The Greening of Bedford Township
 
When it came time to find a building, Smith says the ones she was looking at were either already sold or not a good fit.
 
Inside view of Artique“The church building was a hard buy for me. I told the sellers that if they didn’t budge on the price I wouldn’t be able to purchase it. I made the case that it had been empty for four years,” Smith says. “I’m not doing this because I have to do it. My husband makes plenty of money. Running a business is like my love language.”
 
After taking ownership of the 5,500-square-foot building, she had it completely gutted and put back together. The wood floors were all refinished and drywallers created a lacy pattern on the ceilings of the 1,500-square-foot main room on the upper level which includes the refillery space. The ceilings have been painted in a calming pink tone and six different chandeliers hang from them.
 
Location, she says, has never been a concern for her.
 
“It would matter if it was way out of the city, but anywhere in the Battle Creek area is a plus-plus, especially on the north side.”
 
Smith says she thinks people are tired of spending a lot for cheaply-made products that don’t work as advertised and can lead to future health issues.
 Inside view of one of the many open spaces in Artique“People are becoming conscious of what means more to them and will have a positive impact, rather than having an abundance of things,” she says. “Mainly, when people think of Artique, I want them to think this is something in the community where local artisans sell their wares and that everything here is made by real people. It’s not bought in bulk on Amazon and sold here.
 
“I know me and I know that any business I’m going to open, I put so much heart and soul into it and I know it won’t fail.”