It's been a while.....

Hello everyone,

I hope you've been keeping well and welcome to our latest blog post (it’s been a while)!!

Well, I thought we’d start off this blog post by firstly saying thank you to you all for your continued support both in store and online and we’ve totally forgot that it’s been a whole three years since moving on to the High Street in Glastonbury and a huge 5 years since starting Sons of Asgard as a business!! Where has the time gone?!?!

I guess the main reason for the blog post is due to the fact that we have had some people message us and comment in store about the price increases that have been happening over the last few months.

Chris and I were talking about doing a video for it but on reflection we have not been able to get time to do a live video on social media OR get one recorded to then be edited and put out so I thought writing a blog post would be the next best thing (sitting in the shop looking out the window at the rain we’re having here has put me in a writing kinda mood) and its something that can be done in between serving the lovely people we have in store during the day.

SOOO Price increases………. 

Like I've said above we have had some people comment in person and message online regarding why we have put our prices up on almost everything. Well, the easiest answer would be is “that’s what happens in a business” and if that’s something you are on board with – awesome!

If not then please do let me explain that we didn’t take the decision lightly to make these changes, anyone that has been in store and spoken with us knows that we are so so passionate about what we do and why we do it knows this was a difficult decision to make!

We have, over the last year HAD TO register with HMRC as the business has grown to the point where we have hit the VAT threshold. While it’s great that we have been so so busy and you lovely lot have loved our handmade and bespoke items this has come at a price to us all I’m afraid to say previously we were charging for the items we made and for all the components that they comprise (not including the time, effort and energy they also take) and that was it, every sale we make goes towards making restocks as well as gathering bits and pieces to create and craft our new items we have coming out all the time, of course we do make sure we can pay our home rent and bills but that’s what wages are for (I know right, we are allowed a wage for what we do)!!!

For example, a Violet Flame spray (costing £19) comprises of a glass bottle, spray top, label, water, emulsifier, and at least five different essential oils. This is just for one spray as we do not use the same blend of oils for different sprays! 

We currently have over 100 x 30ml sprays and over 50 x 100ml sprays and that’s just one thing we make in the shop. 
 

Let alone making sure we have somewhere to make and charge these items – as some people still think that we buy our items premade and just slap a label on them and then they go on the shelves!! Our ethics would not allow for that, and we would not be out of stock of some of the items for a while if this was the case!

 The cost of living crisis doesn’t just affect people and residential places – it does also affect businesses too – now when we started Sons of Asgard we was not expecting it to become so successful and popular with you all, we were just making a few items from the knowledge we have in our heads as a bit of a hobby and to share that knowledge with anyone who wanted it. Believe it or not we started with witch’s charm pouches, 5 witch balls, 24 teas and some soy candles and wax melts.

Rent, Business Rates, electric, water are the four main ones we must deal with on a monthly basis and unfortunately as business owners the companies seem to think you have more money and they charge more for things like electric and water which go up (and down) throughout the year though it’s funny how it rises by a lot and lowers by a little slowly increasing throughout the years. 

The saving grace is though we are HONEST people and with things like our Herbs and Essential Oils they change in price throughout the years we have been in Glastonbury, and we totally forward this on to you all via our prices! The last price increase (now bear in mind we should be doing these every 6 months) as our supplier changes them regularly, though our herbs may look full all the time we order little and often to maintain the freshness of them as we dispense and use them ourselves for things like our teas, incenses and spell items that require herbs, we don’t and to help things across the board if our purchase price decreases we change our price in store to reflect this!!

The latest change we’ve done has been a mix of both increases and decreases across the weights we have available. Essential Oils have also had a bit of a mix around where we have had to find a new supplier as we just couldn’t get all of the data sheets to make sure that what is in the bottle is what we are saying they are and funnily enough 95% of the new Essential Oils we now have are actually CHEAPER than what they previously were (though we have not had one person comment on this)!!

We make sure that the things in store and online are accessible for all people, we do not gate keep (barring our recipes or suppliers) and ANYONE who comes in and speaks with Chris, I or the 2 other team members we have in store, we make sure they have as much knowledge as possible to help and support the people that cross our threshold or message the webchat. We are constantly looking for ways to build the business and make sure that the prices that we HAVE TO CHARGE are as reasonable and as fair as can be for you all. 
 

As always if you still want to have a chat with us or ask any questions, please do feel free to drop us a message or visit us in store (weekends are normally our busiest so may not be the greatest time) and we will happily reiterate what has been said here.

I guess a thank you for reading is in order and we hope this has cleared a few things up for everyone.

Much love 

The Sons of Asgard Team