Enniskinn: A breath of fresh air for Enniskillen shoppers

In a difficult time with businesses and high streets reeling from the shock of the 2020 pandemic, Enniskinn was birthed from the creative and driven mind of Fermanagh native Jessica Shaw.

The lifestyle shop is known for its range of soaps, bath bombs, shampoos, candles, lotions and more with a large percentage being handmade in the back room of the aromatic store as well as freshly picked flowers and artwork.

“Enniskinn was very much born out of the Covid-19 time,” Jessica explained.

“At the time, I was working in Covid testing labs as a medical diagnostic scientist and if you think back to that time, everybody was under so much stress.

"I was working 12-hour night shifts up in Antrim and I just wanted to get into something that I could do that was more creative. We were very much making soap at the time, and I decided to make my own in my little kitchen and started giving it out to family and friends and they were like ‘Oh this is actually quite nice, could you make some more of it?’.

"Your family are your biggest supporters and will say something is great even if it’s terrible. I just thought I'll validate the market and see if people actually like the stuff I’m making.”

After brewing up a selection of products in her home kitchen, Jessica took to the Diamond and began selling her products.

Like other businesses in the town, the stall went on to develop its own dedicated admirers, a following that Enniskinn’s owner did not want to let down.

“It’s really cold in winter time especially up at the Diamond,” Jessica said. “It’s like a wind tunnel, you're lucky to keep your gazebo,” she laughed.

“We’d built up a wee bit of a following by that point and I thought I don’t want to let these people down, they keep coming back, so we must be doing something right.”

Jessica would then attain her own premise around the corner from the original stall in November 2022 and has been there since after a successful six-week trial period she set herself: “The high Street was decimated after Covid. It still is.

"There’s a lot of derelict shops in the street but by them leaving it helped reduce the rental costs because landlords want people to move in. But fundamentally the way people shop has changed and has forever.

"A lot of people just go on Amazon and get everything delivered to the door but what we’re trying to show now is that there’s a massive turnaround in that trend because as soon as you take away the physical stores and can’t pick something up in your hand, you don’t know what you’re buying or where it comes from.”

Coconut, lavender, dark rose, and passionfruit are just some of the scents you can inhale on arrival.

Jessica’s awareness of the moving market means Enniskinn has its own website so in-person shopping is not essential.

“A lot of the products are based on the natural landscapes as well as our own rich Celtic heritage,” added Jessica.

“We essentially try to take that idea and put it into a lot of products, and they would have visual narratives and scent profiles.

"We don’t use any nasty chemicals, we strip out all the sulphates and we take out the things that customers, are nowadays, very conscious of in their skincare.”

When asked about the business’ best-selling products, Jessica responded: “If you think of Fermanagh, it’s mainly agricultural, isn’t it?

"Because the wives of a lot of farmers started coming in and buying the soaps, it got a lot of men into it and now, after being predominantly females, there’s a lot of guys now that actually come in.

"Soaps are consistently big sellers. Shampoo bars also, because I think now people are very conscious of what’s going into their bodies.

"Male grooming is another big part, so, shampoo bars have come up a lot. They have a very loyal following. It’s the idea of a sustainability aspect because if you can put anything into solid form and your packaging is environmentally friendly (it can draw people in).

"We have invested heavily in FSC Certified packaging, helping to protect the rainforest with sustainable sourcing and local supplying.”

Enniskinn is aiming to revive the dying concept of the High Street, which has suffered greatly in recent times, and wants to offer locals and consumers the chance to try, and clean, their hand at making soap products.

“In the not-too-distant future, we want to bring experiences here,” continued Jessica.

“Again, we want to give people a reason to come up the town because we’ve kind of fallen into this mentality of ‘Oh I’m only going to go up the town to get something’ but actually people should enjoy coming up the town, enjoy your High Street. We want to do workshops out the back.

"You can come in and make your own scent profiles, you can learn how to make soaps, bath bombs, anything you think is enjoyable and not necessarily anything to do with the food and drink culture, just a hands-on thing is a nice thing to do.

"Nowadays it’s not enough to just put things on a shelf, you have to do everything.”

After completing a foundation degree in biomedical science and then a degree in stratified medicine, there was nothing forcing Jessica out of her job in medical software. Apart from her artistic passion.

“I didn’t have to do this, I wasn’t pushed into it,” she said.

“Am I mad walking away from a steady salary and job benefits? Probably.

"But you can always go back. You don’t lose the skills. If anything, having interdisciplinary skills has helped because to become a business owner, you need to become an expert in accounts, financing, VAT returns, PAYE schemes, employment law, social media, marketing and that’s even before you make a product, so it takes an awful lot of skills and being comfortable with change and not being an expert at anything when you start.

"If I had to give advice (on starting a business), that would be it.”