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Photos courtesy Western Beauty Co. Facebook
By Erika Rolling
Made in Alberta Awards

Made in Alberta Readers’ Choice Award Finalist started business from pandemic pastime

May 5, 2023 | 6:30 AM

Alana Hofstede of Western Beauty Co. says making beauty products wasn’t a lifelong dream of hers but was born out of a pandemic hobby she started with her daughter.

As everyone was cooped up inside their homes, Hofstede began making bath bombs in 2020 with her six-year-old daughter as a craft activity.

She says after making them multiple times, she started to fall in love with the process.

“So I did all the research and we slowly opened up what is now Western Beauty Co.”

Sales started on Facebook Marketplace in 2021 and expanded to going to markets around Grande Prairie and the Peace region. She mainly does online orders for product sales.

Her products are sold at Southview Safeway in Grande Prairie and specifically, the Watermelon Flamingo Bath Bomb, which is a finalist in the beauty category for the Made in Alberta Readers’ Choice Awards.

She was unaware of the nomination for the award and had never heard of it before she was told she had received it.

“One of the gentlemen who’s in charge of Safeway local program, he’s the one that brought it to my attention. I was super excited about it, definitely not something I was expecting!”

Alana says before becoming a finalist in the competition, curators have to test the products and she does not know who nominated her bath bomb.

Before the beauty business, Hofstede worked for her husband’s crane company but now focuses solely on Western Beauty Co.

“It’s a lot more fun than being in the wash bay for eight hours a day,” she says.

Western Beauty Co products can also be found around the region in the Wembley Husky, Bezanson General Store, and My Market Canada in the Towne Centre Mall Grande Prairie.

The winner of the Made in Alberta Readers’ Choice Awards will win $5,000 and be featured in the Made in Alberta Awards coverage in Avenue‘s September/October 2023 print issue.

Voting has closed for this year’s contest, but in 2022 more than 4,500 readers voted.

by Erika Rolling