Claire Hulott smiles as she listens to the elderly shoppers nattering outside her shop on one of the shortest, and quietest, high streets in Kent.

“It is amazing how many people come in and start saying this is not really the place for this sort of shop,” said the owner of soap business Chulo Naturals, which opened a new premises in Brompton, near Gillingham, in September.

“You hear them outside saying they don’t think we will survive but they don’t know we have been going several years. We are just new to the area.”

Chulo Naturals has been trading since 2009, originally in West Malling, then in Faversham, before moving to Medway. While retail makes up about 20% of the business, its success has come in wholesale, which counts for about 60% of its operations.

Managing a team of six people, plus a series of zero-hours contracts staff, Mrs Hulott makes all the soaps on site but uses her shop for much more than selling to passing trade.

She said: “The shop doubles as a showroom, where we can show our products in a shop environment to our clients.

"It makes much more sense rather than looking through a catalogue. Prospective clients come here and see products in a shop setting.

"We have never been hugely busy but retail sales is not the reason we chose to come here.

“You would never make a fortune in this spot from passing trade but we knew that when we came here. To be honest, we needed a showroom. If you have got a showroom, you might as well have a shop.”

The rest of Chulo Naturals’ business comes from making own-label products for more than 25 companies.

They have made a beer soap for Shepherd Neame for two and a half years. The Faversham brewery sells it in its gift shops and puts it in its pub bathrooms.

The soap firm also uses its premises to offer reflexology and massage treatments, which can be booked in store and online.

“We wanted a larger premises, which could give us different areas for treatment rooms,” said Mrs Hulott, who formerly ran a glazing business before ill-health forced her to quit. “The massage business is picking up nicely.”

"The shop doubles as a showroom, where we can show our products in a shop environment to our clients..." - Chulo Naturals boss Claire Hulott

Things certainly seem to be falling into place for the business. The company was named Independent Retailer of the Year at Kent Independent Trader Awards in September.

They also featured on the campaign literature for Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst in the Rochester and Strood by-election.

Mrs Hulott has a unique-selling point at her shop in Brompton – a soap deli counter, where customers can have a personalised face cream or scrub made in front of them in a few minutes.

“The idea came about when I saw it in shops in America,” said Mrs Hulott. “Having been involved in the business for six years, it was an avenue I had never considered doing.

"It was like seeing some sexy new shoes. I had seen it and I had to have it.

“When we moved to the new premises that was the first thing we planned. Every customer likes to feel important. If something is being made in front of them, for them, it makes them feel important.

"It is so different to just picking something off the shelf.”