This Entrepreneur Will Help You Give The Most New Brunswick Gift Ever
SAINT JOHN– A Saint John woman wants to help other New Brunswick entrepreneurs get exposure with her new business: The NB Box.
The NB Box offers gift boxes featuring products made by New Brunswick entrepreneurs. Customers have the option to build their own box online, or choose from an already curated one.
Founder Ingrid Munroe says she got the idea from writing a blog series she started back in January called Ms New Brunswick, which profiled women creatives and entrepreneurs in the province. This got her eager to start supporting more local women-led businesses.
“My sister recently had her first baby and I threw her a baby shower. For the gifts for everybody, I was like, ‘I’m only going to support women businesses.’ I put together these really cute gift packs for everybody from four different local women’s businesses,” says Munroe. “I would say that was a start of the idea. That was such a hit with my friends and family that I thought ‘oh, I could really do this larger.’ “
The NB Box launched just over three weeks ago with all-women entrepreneur themed, like her blog. Last week, the business launched the option to build your own box with the products you want.
Products currently offered include Rescue Coffee Co, Boujee Candles, Anointment Natural Skin Care, Rustik Soap Co., J Prosser & Sons Pure Maple Syrup Products, Heaps Handworks among others. Boxes can be purchased online, but Munroe says she will also be setting up at different markets around Greater Saint John.
Munroe describes NB Box customers as people looking for a perfect gift and people who are from New Brunswick who are now away.
“I mail a lot of boxes to Ontario, Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, from people here who buy them for loved ones out west.”
NB Box offers corporate and event gifting as well.
“Realtors often gift when you close on a house, or if you move into an apartment,” says Munroe. “I’m working with a few wedding parties, things of that nature. Sometimes they’re only five boxes, but sometimes they’re 25.”
Looking forward, Munroe is looking to include more local products into the boxes, she’s particularly looking for some made in Northern New Brunswick. Interested vendors can reach out to her through The NB Box website.
“The box is meant to be representative of the whole province, but my personal network is Fredericton to St. Stephen to Moncton,” she says.
“So finding people from especially Northern New Brunswick has been a challenge. I just now got a new supplier in Miramichi, but even still, that’s just one.”
Looking forward, Munroe wants to curate between 40 and 50 products and offer more curated box options.
“I love New Brunswick so much and I think small business, in particular, is so important to growing our economy and providing job security,” she says. “We have two big corporations in town that employ the majority of people here. In order to move away from that kind of stranglehold on the economy, we need small businesses like these to feel like the community supports them.”
Getting ready to have her third child, Munroe also hopes to see the business grow to sustain itself, so she, like many of the entrepreneurs she supports, can work for herself.
“There is a huge potential here for me to do what I want to do, as opposed to working for someone else,” she says.