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Holistic wellness business opens location in Owatonna

Over the past six years, Daisy Blue Naturals has become a staple in the Albert Lea community. In addition to the store, Daisy Blue products are also available at the city’s Hy-Vee grocery store, and people from the area look forward to the holistic wellness festival, Daisyfest, every year.

This year the business opened a location in Owatonna.

Daisy Blue Naturals owner, Jena Thompson, said opening another location was a big decision that has been in the works for a long time.

Originally a chemist at a pharmaceutical lab, Thompson said she began creating her own products while she was pregnant with her son in 1999. She had always loved looking at ingredients in products and trying to think of how she could make them with natural materials.

By 2001, she had built a shed on her property and was selling her products, mainly to family, friends and at small events.

She said the first step to Daisy Blue Naturals becoming its own store began when Albert Lea started an entrepreneur incubator program and asked her to join.

For 15 years, Thompson said she had consultants that sold her products around the country. At one point, she was selling in 35 states.

In 2018, Thompson decided to shift the trajectory of Daisy Blue Naturals, so she was spending more time developing products and working directly with customers. This led to her opening a store location in Austin.

“The stores came sort of as an afterthought,” she said. “My big picture was a holistic healing center … I wanted to bring people together for that.”

She opened her store in Albert Lea in the fall of 2019.

“Albert Lea is amazing. We have a lot of support here. I love the city, I love how beautiful it is,” Thompson said.

The store is dedicated to selling Daisy Blue Naturals products, which range from soaps and cosmetics to wellness supplements and books on holistic living. Thompson said there is an esthetician who comes to do facials, massages and other similar services.

The store also recently installed an infrared sauna that customers can buy a membership to use.

After the Albert Lea store had a solid foundation, Thompson said, she began looking into opening another location in Owatonna because there is a strong customer base there.

A space in Owatonna became available, and Thompson said opening the additional store has gone wonderfully. She added she may open other locations in the future.

With the new store opening, Thompson said she is now able to bring her products to more customers and do the thing she loves most about Daisy Naturals: helping people.

“All of our products have a purpose,” she said. “Our core purpose has always been to make a difference.”

Thompson added she could not have achieved as much success as she has without her staff. Daisy Blue employs eight people in total.

“I have the best staff in the world,” she said.

In addition to the new store in Owatonna, Thompson said Daisy Blue Naturals is working on expanding more into wholesale and retail. The business also does private label work for companies looking to start natural product lines.

Thompson said she is also looking forward to the sixth annual Daisyfest.

“Our core purpose is to make a difference in every life we touch, and that has been true since the day I started it. That purpose hasn’t changed,” she said.