NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) -- New Albany’s Elderberry Co. is bursting at the seams. Boxes line the floor inside the small storefront.
Fourteen store employees and contractors move quickly around the store placing goods in boxes to be mailed to customers.
“If you see, we have no room to ship, and we’re primarily an online business,” said Jenny Watson, the founder and owner of Elderberry Co.
Elderberry syrup is said to help boost the immune system with seven natural ingredients: water, raw honey, elderberries, aronia berries, ginger root, ceylon cinnamon and cloves.
Watson said a heavy hitting flu season and the spread of the coronavirus is doubling orders at Elderberry Co. in just the last week.
“We had 100 to 200 orders a day,” Watson said. “This week, we’ve gone from 200 to 400 orders a day.”
Elderberry Co. syrup
Watson started selling Elderberry syrup from her house a little more than two years ago. She moved to farmers markets, a commercial kitchen and the storefront opened on Spring Street in New Albany last fall.
The opportunity to expand the storefront and triple in size couldn’t come at a better time. The store will take over the former Longboard Taco and Tiki restaurant next door. The restaurant closed in January, and Elderberry Co. plans to take over in April.
“I found elderberry syrup when my son had his first cold and flu season,” Watson said. “He started getting the sniffles, which turned into a cold, which took us to the doctor, which turned into an ear infection.”
Watson said the next time her son started to get sick, she gave him elderberry syrup, and the sickness was much milder than his first sickness.
Watson doesn’t claim to be a doctor, but a mother doing all she can.
Elderberry Co. tea
“We are very quick to say we're not medical professionals, but we come from a place of wanting to empower families and that's our mission statement," she said. “God's given us an immune system, and there are ways that we can strengthen our immune system and stay healthy. So a lot of our customers will take it preventatively, one tablespoon a day."
The expansion should open by August.
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