Ope! It’s Soap melts, molds into new name: Coleman & Peck

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

May 26, 2025

CHIPPEWA FALLS – Though he can’t “pinpoint a specific ‘aha’ moment,” Tony Liedl, owner of Coleman & Peck – Home of Ope! It’s Soap, said he “was always curious about making soap.”

“I remember, (roughly) in 2008, I was talking to my boss about it, and he goes, ‘Well, my wife actually makes soap,’ and that just made me want to make it even more,” he said. “(I learned) there (were) other soap makers out there.” 

Liedl – who earned a degree in applied art in 2001 and is still a full-time graphic designer – said at the time, there weren’t any “Facebook communities or anything like that” that he could “tap into” to learn more.

“So, I never really got into it,” he said.

Fast forward more than a decade, to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Liedl said he decided to “give that soap-making thing a try,” and his husband – Kevin Brylski – gifted him a soap-making kit.

“It was one of those melt-and-pour ones where you just throw the soap into a double boiler and pour it into some molds – maybe add some fragrance and other things,” he said “It was a really sweet gesture, and it made me want to really dig in and (ask), ‘Well, how do you really make this from scratch?’ Because that’s what I wanted to do.”

A meaningful evolution

After diving into research, connecting with soap-making Facebook communities and reaching out to friends who also had soap-making experience, Liedl said he started putting together his own recipe.

“(It was) a lot of trial and error, (but) the best way to learn is by making mistakes, and I made a lot,” he laughed. “From there, the soap was piling up, and I was just putting it out there for free for my friends, saying, ‘Hey, anybody want some good soap?’ And people (started) offering to pay me for it. I thought, ‘Well, let’s see where this goes.’”

Shortly after, Liedl said he organized his own local craft and vendor pop-up fair in his front yard, where he sold his soap for the first time.

“I had invited some friends who I knew were crafters, and a lot of them set up tents in my yard,” he said. “I even contacted the city and (asked), ‘Do I need any type of seller permit?’ And they’re like, ‘As long as it’s not like a recurring thing, you should be fine.’ I made a nice chunk of money that day, so I just kept (going) and started going to craft fairs and setting up booths. People really seem to like my stuff.”

Now, Liedl said he not only has developed a successful brand for his soap products – Ope! It’s Soap, an homage to his Midwestern roots – he began expanding his product line in September 2024, under a new and sentimental business name: Coleman & Peck.

“I thought, ‘This is an opportunity,’” he said. “(For the) people who do know me and like my stuff, I’m going to keep Ope! (It’s Soap), but (I started wondering if I was) limiting myself to the Midwest.”

Even though his shared retail space is located in the heart of West Central Wisconsin – at 116 N. Bridge St. in Chippewa Falls – Liedl said, often, customers didn’t understand the name.

“I’d have people come into the store and say, ‘What is Opie?’ (or) ‘What does Opie mean?’” he said. “If I eventually branch out or want to go outside of the Midwest, (I want the name to) resonate, or make sense to people who would want to be buying it on the coasts or any(where outside the Midwest). So, I wanted to have a name that still meant something to me, but wouldn’t be this puzzle for people to try to figure out and understand.”

Coleman & Peck, Liedl said, is a dual-purpose name with several personal experiences tied to it.

According to Coleman & Peck’s website (opesoap.com), it is “a name that ties directly to both Tony’s childhood and his and Kevin’s adult lives in many meaningful ways,” as the couple’s first and current homes – as well as Liedl’s childhood home – are on the corners of Coleman Street and Peck Street in Chippewa Falls.

“It’s funny – we’ve been talking to the neighbor about buying my old childhood home,” he said. “It’s not going to happen, and that was a conversation last year…, but the idea was kind of fun.”

According to Coleman & Peck’s Facebook page, the business’s new logo also pays homage to the couple’s evolution in Chippewa Falls – depicting the orientation of all three of Liedl’s meaningful homes.

Product expansion, hopeful growth

Prior to selling his products out of a shared storefront with a friend and fellow business owner, Liedl said he had his own location “off the beaten path.”

“Weirdly, people just forgot that I was there,” he said. “They would still come and everything, but Bridge Street is the main drag.”

At his previous location, Liedl said the building “was kind of falling apart and the landlord wasn’t really there a whole lot to take care of it.”

“So (I wondered), ‘What other options are there?’ – and I talked to my friend, who had her (own) store, and I (asked), ‘Would you be interested in going in together in a space?’” he said. “She said yes, so I moved in, and I’m actually paying less rent to be in a better location.”

His now co-inhabited storefront, Liedl said, is only a block down the road from his first location – and for those not in the West Central region, he said a curated taste of his product selection is available online.

“I don’t have all of the stuff (online) that I do in my store, so it’s easier to keep my store stocked,” he said.

After expanding his scope to add more home, hair and skin care products – such as body butters, dry shampoo, bath bombs, lotions, linen sprays, candles and wax melts – Liedl said his next step, if he’s able, is slow and controlled business growth.

“Retail in general has been really strange the last two years, so before I start to dream big about my own location or branching out more, I really am curious to see if the support will still be there,” he said.

Though he’s grateful to be employed full-time outside of Coleman & Peck, Liedl said working for himself isn’t something he’s opposed to if the opportunity presented itself.

“I do work full-time for a company as a graphic designer (and) I have for a number of years,” he said, “but it would be really cool to be able to have my business take off and be successful (to where I can do it full-time).”

For now, Liedl said he’s keeping a busy schedule balancing the two.

“On my lunch breaks, I will go down into my soap area and make soap, then come back upstairs and get back to work,” he said. “Then five o’clock rolls around – but it’s really like seven o’clock, as we all know, because work gets busy – and I go downstairs again and keep going.”

However, with the help, love and support of his husband of five years, Liedl said the soap-making train rolls on.

“(Kevin) helps work the store on weekends to give me some time off,” he said. “I feel like I couldn’t have done it without him, because he helps out so I can give my attention to the business.”

And, just as Kevin supports him and Coleman & Peck, Liedl said he hopes consumers – locally and beyond – begin, or continue, to support small businesses, especially in uncertain times.

“I would love (to bring attention not only to) my business, but to small businesses in general – making sure that people (remember to) shop local and shop small,” he said.

For store hours and more information on Ope! It’s Soap and all of Liedl’s other handmade, artisanal products, visit Coleman & Peck’s website or social media pages.