Natural State Market

06/23/2024

The time has come. We are closing the doors of Natural State Market for good.

I originally opened the shop over three years ago, with a hope and vision of sharing zero waste living in an attainable and affordable way. I wanted people to have the information and the tools necessary to reduce waste so we can all better care for our planet. I also wanted to offer healthy cleaning alternatives that are better for the environment as a whole, and better for the homes we live in.

In the process, Meditating Market grew faster than I could keep up with. The desire for what we offered outpaced what I could do as a mom with young kids.

I brought on my friend, Katherine, to partner with me and grow it to be even better. Rebranding to Natural State Market and finding Arkansas made products that met our standards was a pivotal point in the shop’s growth. We saw our sales triple in the time we owned the shop together.

In the process, we expanded our natural product options to not only include cleaning supplies, but also a wide range of holistic health solutions and personal care items… most of which were Arkansas made. We gave Arkansas makers of all kind a place to sell their goods. We offered people a place to come learn more about sustainability, and refill their containers with food and cleaning supplies. We even hosted recycling drop off for free.

Katherine and I are incredibly proud and thankful for what we built. We made so many great friends and allies in our dream to leave the Earth better than we found it. I feel at peace with the conversations we started in the community, and the difference we were able to make. It feels good to pass the baton to each of you to continue the legacy in your own ways, among your family, friends and businesses.

For myself, it’s time for me to focus on sustainability in a new, more personal way: at home. The shop opened my eyes to how much is possible with some land and determination. My husband and I bought land last year to start a farm we call Cisar Acres. We are teaching our kids how to grow their own food, raise animals and care for the slice of Arkansas we call ours. We plan on offering produce to our community in the future. We’d like to offer a camping spot to families in the woods by our creek. We want to see all aspects of our farm work together, to cultivate something beautiful.

So for now, that’s where you’ll find me… slowing down, spending time with my kids, tending a garden and loving on the land and animals. You can find me at Cisar Acres on Instagram.

Katherine will continue with her other business endeavors as a brand and business consultant, mom and wife.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for cheering us on, and for supporting both our dreams over the last three years. We are excited to see what God will do next.

With love,
Robyn Cisar and Kat Daniels
🌱🌎💚

06/01/2024

“For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 2:11

We are overflowing with gratitude and thanksgiving for the abundant love shown over the years and support this week during our transition. It's hard closing up for the last time, walking away from our rough little jewel we loved called The Shop...

But, our community helped ease our heartbreak by showing up, praising us, praying with us, and covering us with words of affirmation, faith and hope.

We do not know our future. But God does, and we are taking this time to learn what's next "best" for us and the Natural State Market.

Thank you, dear friends.
We love you so much, and we'll be in touch.

Robyn & Kat 💚

05/30/2024

We are OPEN today, tomorrow and Saturday from 10-5! Come see us during our final week at The Main St Station!

Reminder that Natural State Market is having a clearance sale, 40% off everything. That includes our soils, castings etc etc.
Go see them for a stupor good deal!

05/28/2024

It has been a pleasure to be here this long! Onward and upward 🌱🌎💚

We’re open every day through Saturday this week from 10-5!

05/26/2024

We love y’all so much. Thank you for all your suggestions and words of encouragement. We will continue posting updates as we figure out next steps and new location!!

We will be OPEN Tuesday-Saturday this week from 10-5. Come enjoy 40% off your purchase… it’s a great time to stock up on your refills, buy gifts, and treat yourselves!! Don’t forget it’s the last week to drop off recycling, too.

We’re looking forward to seeing you. Much love, earthlings 🌱🌎💚

05/24/2024

This is not something I ever wanted to post, but here we are.

Saturday, June 1st will be our last day in business at The Main St Station. The property owners are moving in a new direction, and we no longer have a lease.

We will be OPEN Tuesday (May 28) through Saturday (June 1) from 10-5. The entire store will be 40% off all week. We’d like to sell through as much inventory as possible and pay all our bills so that (God willing) we have less to move to a new location and we can restock once we know where it’ll be. This will also be our last week to offer recycling until we know what’s next.

If you know us and our story, I’m asking you to help us find a new home. Kat and I are exploring our options of reopening Natural State Market in a new location. At the time of this writing, we have not secured a place yet. We want to stay in Benton. We’d love it to be downtown if that’s possible. Please message or email us if you or anyone you know has a place we can continue our work.

We want to be transparent with you, our community, as we’ve been doing life together for three years now. You guys have shown up big time for us more times than we can count… and I’m not just talking about shopping. I’m talking about the number of you who’ve shown up to help when the shop has flooded, those who have come to enjoy our events, those who have loved our cat Sprout in all the ways, those who’ve brought their kids in just to put a smile on our faces, those who’ve walked with us during difficult times personally, those who’ve shared their wins and losses with us in confidence… Each of you have become an extension of our family.

It is our hope and prayer that Natural State Market will find a new home. We desperately want to keep supporting you in every aspect: offering holistic health solutions you can’t find other places, offering free recycling, presenting more sustainable options to implement at home, supporting Arkansas makers by giving them space to share their talents, offering a place to come by and ask for prayer, or a high five… all the things that have made us who we are over the last three years.

I can’t count the number of faces I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with. Our shop has bloomed and flourished and grown in a way I never could’ve predicted, and as you know, those roots run so much deeper than just being a shop.

From day one, I’ve always said, “It takes a village.” My kids have grown up at The Station, helping me run the shop, taking naps in the storage closet, collecting pecans from the tree beside us, doodling our parking lot with sidewalk chalk. A lot of your kids have joined them. We’d love to branch out and continue our mission of sustainable living for the next generation.

We would truly love to see each of your smiling faces during our last week at 303 North Main Street.

We don’t want this to be goodbye. We want it to be, “See you very soon, earthlings.” 🌱🌎💚

05/21/2024

We are CLOSED this week to wrap up the school year with our kids! Thank you for understanding. We will be back open Wednesday, May 29! 🌱🌎💚

05/18/2024

Alma’s famous worms are restocked! 🪱🍄🌸🪴

Flower worms joining the clew at Natural State Market!

05/16/2024

We love when the bread rack is full!

Come grab a load of sourdough or sweet breads! Glory Muffins are here, as are farm fresh eggs of every color 😍

We’re open until 8:30 tonight for Third Thursday. See you at the shop!

05/16/2024

Good morning and happy Third Thursday!!

We have a new pottery maker in the shop! Churchwell Pottery features a variety of unique pieces: Worry Warts, Egg Separators, Spoon Holders, Dishes, Worry Stones, Incense Burners!!

We are open today from 10-8:30! Live music on the patio will kick off at 6!

See you at the shop, earthlings 🌱🌎💚

05/15/2024

WHY Wednesday: Why should you switch to reusable paper towels?

For starters, these towels are Arkansas made!!! Olive Loom is located in northwest Arkansas and each towel is handmade by a university textile student or retiree!

From a sustainability perspective, the benefits are great:
🌎 Eliminate single use paper towels that end up in the landfill. Reusable towels allow you to wash and reuse them over and over again! They wash out clean, dry quickly, and roll back up just right.
🌎 As many as 51,000 trees are required to replace the number of paper towels that are thrown away every day
🌎 According to the EPA, 7.58 BILLION pounds of solid waste each year are attributed to tissue paper and paper towels
🌎 Around 20,000 gallons of water are required to make one ton of paper towels.

🌱 Imagine the impact if we made the switch to locally made, reusables!

One roll of our reusable towels is only $20 (including tax)!

We’re open Wednesday-Saturday from 10-5. See you at the shop, earthlings 🌱🌎💚