The Honey Shoppe and Soapbox

Honey heaven and soap
Where else but the fantastic Adelaide Central Market will you find another hidden Adelaide gem? Who would have thought — honey and soap in the one store? Chris and his brothers have been spruiking recycling and being green for it seems like 20 years or more (possibly is is closer to 30??)
Take your own container and fill up with every possible honey delight featuring our local producers. Take another container and buy liquids to wash just about anything including you and your woollens. Fancy some tahini? — bring in your own container and choose from hulled or unhulled. Choose from a huge array of essential oils — I would say the best I have ever seen — once again take your own bottle if you’re a keen recycler. I recently bought oil of oregano — evidently according to Dr Oz the most essential essential oil for your first aid kit — kills just about anything! Pre-​menstrual or post menopausal? — need some Evening Primrose seeds? — buy them in bulk. Look for or be tempted by the unusual or the newest health trend. You could spend hours in the Honey Shoppe browsing and the counter always has something small and cheap enough to be seduced by.
Forgo the packaging, save money and the planet and make this your only destination for personal and household cleaning PLUS honey. Congratulations Chris on however many years making our lives healthier and cleaner!!!

great store with lots of goods that are all hard to find in one place. i was after some essential and coconut oils to make sugar body scrub and it was one-​stop shopping experience for me!
will have to come back for environmental-​friendly soaps/​detergents + ingredients for home spa :)

Even though this shop has the term ‘Honey’ in the title, I have never bought honey from here! But it *is* excellent for all manner of ingredients if you like your skincare to be chemical free ;)
As well as stocking big brands like Burt’s Bees, The Honey Shoppe and Soapbox also stocks some small producers of organic skincare, soaps and hair products. If I can’t find it at the health food shop next door, I’ll look for it here.
Sometimes you have to spend a bit of time looking for things, as it’s a bit jam-​packed (I eventually found that the shea butter is behind the counter!), but their range of products more than makes up for that. The service has become better recently too — you used to have to block out an entire lunch break just to get served, but new staff have made that a lot more streamlined.
I also like the fact that you can bring in your old containers to be re-​filled — an excellent idea, and one that should be encouraged more often.

«The only reason for making a buzzing-​noise that I know of is because you’re a bee… and the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey… and the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it.»
I think Winnie the Pooh was on to something with his constant quest to find a «small smackeral» of honey and if he knew that honey shops existed he probably would have been a Duke of The Honey Shoppe in the Central Markets.
This place is the heaven of all things sticky and sweet. If you always wondered what macadamias or bloodwood or avocado or blueberry honey (to name a few) tastes like then you have come to the right store. The Gilberts have been beekeeping and collecting honey since the 1970’s and they sure show their expertise through the quality of honey they sell in store.
And don’t bee shy (see what I did there?) or scared away from the age defying twins who have been running the store for over 20 years (I swear they are 60 and look 20 years old). I have a feeling this age defying ability is from «sampling» a teaspoon of sugar and using all their essential oil soaps and body products they sell in store every day!
So satisfy the rumbly in your tumbly, bring your own container with you and pick from the changing bar of honey on tap each week!

This is about the only shop in Adelaide that sells ingredients to make my own natural skincare products from scratch. As my only other option is to buy direct from the wholesalers who are in Melbourne and Sydney but have to buy in bulk and meet the minimum spend. So unless I’m planning on going commercial this is not financially viable to buy via this method. So thank Honey they exist.
Exist they have at the Central Market for many decades and yet another family business, the guys in there are ageless as I remember going in there as a kid and being intoxicated with the smell of soap, incense, candles, lotions and potions. Must be something in the air.
This is a good place to start going green at home and they will give the best advice they know on various products to help you on your way.
Be sure to bring an empty bottle to fill up on their honey, powders, etc anything you can buy in bulk. They also have olive oil, hair shampoo, conditioner, laundry liquid or powder, hand soaps and an array of other products for any purpose. If you forget to bring your own container they have them for sale and in various shapes and sizes.
For all greenies, non greenies and home alchemists like me. go to there, you will have a field day exploring.

I love this Central Market store for the more uncommon healthy and beauty products.
It stocks soaps — liquid and bar, natural beauty products without SLS and other delicious products. As the name suggests they are big on honey and stock that really good medicinal honey, that’s pricey but cures all manor of ailments.
I also love that you can take your containers here and stock up on products from the bulk tubs. It’s such a little thing, but if we all start recycling containers, it’ll have to make less of an impact on our environment.
If you have a friend who’s into natural products, you can pick up some lovely gifts here too that are sure to be appreciated.

This owned –owned business has a sweet selection of honey, toiletries and much more besides.
The shop stocks a good range of beauty products that are not tested on animals and contain no animal ingredients.
I’ve just moisturised with Cows in Clover hand and body milk, one of many excellent items I’ve bought from this store. It comes with a cute little cow bell that rings and lists full cream milk among its ingredients.
The shop also sells cleaning products and candles, but I mainly come here for its excellent selection of honey. I bought a lovely 3kg tub of Gilbert’s Pure Tasmanian Honey from there, which I can bring back to the shop when it runs out and refill it with more honey. Sweet!
The Honey Shoppe and Soapbox is open every Monday from 9.30am– 5pm,
Tuesday from 9am– 5.30pm, Wednesday from 9am — 5pm, Thursday from 9am — 5.30pm, Friday from 9am-​9pm and Saturday from 9am to 2.30 or sometimes 3pm

It takes a little rational thinking to understand how this family business may have evolved, and I’m not saying I’m right about this because I haven’t discussed it with them for fear of them banning me from the shop as a fruit loop, but here’s how I imagined it came to pass: they set up the honey wholesale side of the business, selling honey of a range of varieties. People can bring in their own personal container and fill it if they so desire or they can purchase it in a container already. Well, anyone knows how sticky honey is, so naturally it would suit to start selling soap as well because you would be forever washing your hands dealing with all this honey correct?
So the honey and soap shop is created. They also stock burning incense, some low impact shampoos, like goats milk shampoo and a variety of other cosmetic and beauty products, but all on the low irritant and friendly to animals types of stock. There are some cards and objects of art locally made — I particularly like the little South Australian blue bird they have on a tea towel. I’ve also purchased fresh patchouli plant from them that comes from East Timor, so it is one of those stores where you may find the exact product you’ve been looking for, like non sweetened toothpaste or low allergy hand wash… along with honey. Honey is a luxurious and wonderfully healing thing.

The Honey Shoppe, is a wonderful old fashioned store that offers lots of bulk buying of products such as honey (of course), soaps, detergents etc. Bring in your own container and the price is cheaper. It goes without saying that they offer a large variety of honey, in jars or in bulk. The other thing I often go in to shop for is essential oils. They have a great range of essential oils at a really good price. I buy a wonderful propolis toothpaste from here which has no flouride or other nasties in it and for a natural toothpaste, which tastes great. If you are looking for natural hair dyes or other personal care items you will not be disappointed.
If you have never been to this store and like all things eclectic and alternative it is well worth a look around, especially if you are interested in natural health.