When Leanne Wagner took her family’s yearly beef purchase to the butcher to be processed, her husband told her to ask for every part of the cow. She wasn’t sure what to make of the thick bag of fat they gave back to her.

After some Googling, her husband suggested, “You should make soap!”

“I took all the fat and I rendered it down to a nice clean tallow,” Wagner laughed. “It was disgusting, and my house smelled like a butcher’s shop.”

But in that first batch of soap, she discovered the skin-loving properties of tallow and saw the difference it made in her family’s skin health. She decided to pursue the soap-making hobby — with a tallow supplier and YouTube to help.

Wagner’s sister, Megan Upton, had closed her massage business on Nucleus in 2019 after she physically couldn't do it anymore. Wagner suggested they start a soap and candle business.

So the pair set up an online shop, 406soapandcandleco.com, and got to work learning how to make their products, design logos, and market them. After three years online, attending the Made in Montana Show, Christmas Shows, and stocking the shelves of local businesses, the duo has opened a storefront, 406 Soap and Candle Co. at 428 Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls.

“We grew up in Columbia Falls and went to high school here,” Wagner said. “We saw a need for a little bit of shopping downtown.”

The upside of a physical location is that people can come in and smell the products.

“I think it’s just fun for me when people can come in and be able to do something fun and relaxing,” Upton said.

“I like it when they pick something up and smell it, and that smell takes them back to something they remember,” Wagner added.

Wagner still specializes in soap, and Upton is “the fire behind the candles.” They also make shampoo and conditioner bars and bath bombs. The pair spent the whole summer building up their stock, and the shelves are full and ready for anyone looking for natural, handmade goods.

406 Soap and Candle Co. is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.