Yahoo News Guildford's Lush manager explains how town loves Intergalactic bath bombs and one shaped like a magic cow
Guildford’s Lush branch has a prominent spot at the bottom of the high street. Sat in the middle of Friary Street it has been a hot spot for bath bombs and scented soaps for years. Its manager told Surrey Live why this store has become party central.
Since starting at Lush in 2019, Becky Craggs has been quickly promoted. The enthusiastic sales assistant rapidly became a supervisor before being made a manager at the end of 2021. Having only started the role as a part time gig while doing her PHD she told Surrey Live she “fell in love. It's so much fun. Every day meeting so many, lovely customers everybody is just a delight. We're so lucky.”
She said that her job means “getting to play with all these gorgeous products and show people them. It’s like having a toy shop but with cosmetics, it's just so, so lovely to give people that special experience when they come in.”
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As the brand celebrates World Bath Bomb day (April 27) Becky spoke to us about what Guildford is putting in its basket. According to Becky “we really love our bath bombs in Guildford. One favourite is Intergalactic. This one is gorgeous. It's bright blue, and it's got these pink and yellow swirls and when you put it in the bath, there's glitter inside. So it looks like the night sky.
“It was recently on the BBC ’s Inside The Factory with Greg Wallace. People have really loved that and they've been coming in to see the bath bomb that they saw on the telly. That's really fun.”
However, Intergalactic is not the only bath bomb proving popular. Becky said: “We have one called Toby's magic cow, that's really popular. It's the most adorable, little cow shaped and it's named after a little boy called Toby who wrote to Lush and wanted a magic cow bath bomb and then the company made it happen for him. It's got a rainbow in there. So, when you put it in the bath, all these beautiful colours come out and there's popping candy inside. It's so fun and it's nice for the younger ones as it's got coconut milk powder so it's really gentle on the skin.”
With working in a Lush comes the store's distinctive smell, however Becky says she doesn’t even notice it now. She told SurreyLive “It's really sad for us because we can't smell it anymore. I always say it's like how your house has a smell but you can't smell your own house. When we go out after work people will say to us, oh, you smell like Lush and it's just attached to our hair and our clothes. It's nice that we're going around with this perfume without even meaning to do it.”
On top of the bath bombs. Becky said that Guildford is also one of the top destinations for a Lush party. “Guildford absolutely loves a birthday party at Lush. They're all held after hours, which is nice, because the party guests get the shop all to themselves, like little VIPs. We do lots of party games. We've got one party game where we all have a basket and split the group into two teams, give them a basket each and they have to run around the shop and find as many products as they can with, let's say lavender in, it's like Supermarket Sweep.
They also get to try all the products. We make a product and then they get to take it home at the end as well. And they get a little goodie bag with the product they've made in there and then a little exclusive product that you can only get if you come to a party.”
With world bath bomb day comes a new range of products. Becky said: “There are a total of 29 new bath bombs in Lush. We've got 15 of them in the store so everything's very different. Very exciting for us as well to mix things up and see all these new bath bombs.”
Becky might be about to finish her PHD but she can’t see herself leaving Lush. It is open from 10am to 5pm on weekdays, until 6pm on Saturdays and opening later at 11am on Sundays.
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