Our Visit to the Savannah Bee Company

-posted by Jayne

For years I have heard about the Savannah Bee Company from friends and customers, as well as read articles about them in prominent beekeeping magazines.  While we were planning our latest family trip to Edisto Beach and Hilton Head Island, we made a plan to head an hour south to spend some time checking out the Savannah Bee Company flagship store.  It was well worth the extra hours of driving.  If I had more time and didn't have a bunch of wet, hungry kids with me, I'd have stayed longer and checked out their second store, also in Savannah.  (They also have a store in Charleston, SC).  Today I bring you a pictorial tour of what you can find at Savannah Bee Company.  

As soon as you walk in, you are greeted by a beautiful display of honey flutes, illuminated by a backlight which clearly shows the differences in color between the varieties of honey.

Honey in a flute, you say?  We have been gifted one of these jars before and it is a little difficult to get it out if you are used to a squeeze bottle.  They do have one other unique option: the honey pump!

Here you see Acacia Honey (very similar to our Spring honey, as Acacia is another word for Black Locust), Lavender Honey, Rosemary Honey, Orange Blossom, and Palmetto Honey.

They also market honey for specific uses- tea, cheese, and grilling.  They help schools start their own observation hives and students sell their honey through fundraising to help maintain those hives.  The "Bee Cause" jar on the far right is an example of the honey sold for this project.

The store features beautiful displays with everything from honey and bee themed clothing to books, body care gift sets, and the clever bee boxes at the bottom contain their honey soap.

Bridger was a little overwhelmed with all the choices.

But after he found "The Hive" children's play area, he was all set.  He told me, "Mom, No Ladies Allowed!  Kids Only!"

The kids area actually was my favorite part, as it allowed me to take my time looking around.

I stumbled up a familiar book- with a familiar author.  Isaac started bragging to the employees that I was the co-author of the book, which I found just a bit embarrassing.  

What I find most impressive about the Savannah Bee Company is their ability to cleverly package their products to make them so desirable.  I was admiring their lip balm set and called out for Isaac to come over to check out the neat packaging.   Another customer heard me mentioned that and commented, "I know, isn't it neat?!  I don't even want all those lip balms, I'm just buying them because they look so cute in that bag!"

Clever packaging for honey straws...

Clever packaging for honey gift sets...

And more gift sets...

They had enticing wall displays, with interactive video monitors.

They had more honey bodycare products than one could even imagine needing; everything from shampoo, conditioner, hand cream, heel balm, salve, liquid hand soap, royal jelly body butter, body wash, bar soap.... I'm sure I forgot something in there.  

I found the gold reserve... with the golden price tag!

So you may be wondering why, when we are a company selling honey and honey body products, am I singing the praises of this other honey company?  Hmmm... good question.  To tell the truth, I went into this store expecting to be a bit turned off by the high prices of their products... thinking I may find a snobbish atmosphere.  We received just the opposite.  The staff was incredibly friendly and patient with my children- who wanted to sample each and every honey as many times a possible.  They answered my questions expertly, without being pushy or overly salesman-like.  I found their products incredibly unique and very different from the products we make here on our farm.  I have a deep admiration for what they have done as a marketing-savy company, able to elevate honey and honey products to the highest standard of appreciation by their customers.  

We left a bit disheveled... with a full bag of goodies (mostly t-shirts and body care products, since we're still too cheap to buy their honey).  The pouring down rain didn't damper our kids' spirits, but it was time to leave Savannah.  Many thanks to the Savannah Bee Company for being so welcoming!