In London's Chelsea neighborhood, an all-natural shop called The Organic Pharmacy defies any crunchy-granola stereotypes. There are no tapestries, no burning sticks of incense, no pro-hemp bumper stickers. Rather, the health-and-beauty supply is a chic white-on-white haven, stocked with all kinds of salves, tonics, and beauty treatments—everything from detox solutions to nail polishes—as sleekly packaged as they are wholesome. And overseeing it all, usually in her signature white lab coat, is owner Margo Marrone.
"I want to make an organic way of life more accessible, give it a little oomph," says Marrone, a trained pharmacist who opened the store in partnership with her husband, Franco. "People need to realize that organic is normal—the rest is chemical."
One conversation with the Iranian-born Marrone, who is a wellspring of information about the toxins in the products we eat, drink, and slather on our faces every day, can convert even a drugstore-cosmetics junkie to her philosophy. Shortly before becoming pregnant with her first child, Roksana, Marrone began reading up on organic food. Her outrage at the farming business—"They'll spray a single apple 16 times with carcinogens!"—snowballed, until she began to question her profession in the pharmaceutical industry. She returned to school, earned a degree in homeopathy, and took a job with a large British homeopathic company. A few years later, she decided to open The Organic Pharmacy.
The business started out as a source of alternative medical advice and remedies. In the early days, Marrone would man the shop from opening until closing, kept company by her husband, a textile designer who handles the creative side of the enterprise, and their children, Roksana and son Max. "It was very casual," she says. "Max spent the first eight months of his life in the store. Luckily for me, he slept a lot."
After both her custom-blended and premade homeopathic medicines proved a success, Marrone opened a spa downstairs from the shop and developed a skin-care-and-cosmetics line. The products include a much-loved carrot-butter cleanser as well as vitamins, shampoos, and diaper creams; all are handmade from organic ingredients in a small London factory and are free of the chemical preservatives found in many other "natural" brands. Among the line's fans are Stella McCartney and Gwyneth Paltrow, not to mention Roksana, who is starting to dabble in lip gloss and "anything girly," her mom says.
Now, with the support of four on-staff homeopaths, Marrone spends less time in the shop. Not that she's any less driven—after walking her kids to school, she spends her time answering customer e-mails, checking on the factory, and strategizing about how to expand her business. "In 10 years, I want an OP in every major country," she says.
Marrone's radiant skin may be a testimony to her lifestyle. For a busy woman who says she "barely manages to get to the playground," she shows no sign of fatigue.
