RaeAnn Conat’s Swanky Sweet Pea shop in downtown International Falls Thursday became part of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s “Made in America” tour, highlighting products made and sold in America.
Conat manufactures and sells thousands of hand-made bath and body products shaped like desserts to more than 400 retailers all over the world.
The business began in her home kitchen in Tacoma, Wash., and moved to her two-stall heated garage. As the business grew, Conat relocated to the Falls, where she has hired several family members, as well as other people.
Klobuchar walked through the shop, picking up items for a closer look and then up to her nose for a smell.
“Wow,” said Klobuchar as she descended the stairs into the basement production area where finished products awaited packaging. Conat described how she’s begun to use kitchen appliances to expedite production.
Much of her business comes through her website, she said. Conat estimated that the Falls’ shop represents about 1 percent of her sales, but is important because it is where the product is created.
As Conat walked Klobuchar through the shop, which includes a pink-painted party room, she described the high costs involved in exporting her products to Canada.
Klobuchar chairs the Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
Thursday’s visit to the Falls is one of several stops on her “Made in America” tour, showcasing American-made products and highlighting the challenges small businesses face.
“One of the most exciting things going on right now in difficult economic times are people that still believe in making things in America, and this business is a great example of that creativity and innovation, and she’s now exporting across our border,” said Klobuchar. “That’s what we need more of. We’ve learned we just can’t rely on turning money on Wall Street — we have to make things in America. And talk about creativity — this is a great example of it right in the middle of International Falls.”
Klobuchar was joined in the tour of Swanky Sweet Pea by Falls Mayor Tim “Chopper” McBride and Falls Director of Economic and Community Development Shawn Mason.
Prior to Klobuchar’s arrival, Conat said she was happy to be a stop on the tour.
“It’s really exciting, I’m excited to hear what she thinks of it,” said Conat of her business.
“I’m really proud she’s coming today,” said Conat. “We had two new people training in, we shipped out a $10,000 order, plus other orders. From now until Christmas my brain is like Jello. It makes me realize how informed I need to be and to take time out not only for family, but as a business owner and a member of a military family.”
Conat told Klobuchar and her staff that she started the business as a way to make a little money while she stayed at home with her daughter.
Her husband Zach, she noted, is in the U.S. Air Force and his income helped finance the start of the business. She joked that despite now making profit, she hasn’t yet paid him back. She told Klobuchar that the ‘sweet pea’ part of her business name comes from a nickname of her daughter, and that her mom added the ‘swanky.’
Klobuchar urged Conat to seek a trademark for her products. Conat agreed, but said as a busy mom and business owner, she sometimes doesn’t get to the details she should.
“We literally get orders everyday,” she said, adding that she can now make 700 of her ‘cupcakes’ a day.
An excited Conat told Klobuchar that she worked really hard last year toward purchasing a house. “We worked our butt off last year and now we close on a house Friday,” she said Thursday.
“What an amazing person,” Klobuchar said of Conat as she walked out of Swanky Sweet Pea onto Third Street.
“I am very impressed this store and everything that is going on in International Falls,” she said. “I continue to work with Boise and was with them a few weeks ago, and am really positive about what’s going on up here.”
Prior to the Falls visit, Klobuchar toured the destruction caused by a wildfire in Karlstad and experienced traffic delays resulting from construction on Highway 11 west.
“It was really amazing what went on there,” she said of the Karlstad community. “They said they were so close to losing the whole town. The work they did (Wednesday) — cleared out the school, cleared out the nursing home and got help right away from other towns and the state and were able to ward off the fire from going through the town.”
She said Mattracks, the community’s largest employer, only lost a warehouse and its contents. The company produces rubber track conversion kits.
“It was a tribute to all the firefighters and volunteers from all around who came and helped,” she said.
Following the tour, Klobuchar met with a group of constituents in the Falls and then flew to Duluth for a presidential debate party.
