With an extensive selection of menstrual care products, from discs to organic tampons, and staff on hand for education without a hint of embarrassment, Period Nirvana, a new 700-square foot store in the scenic city of Asheville, N.C., next to a chiropractor and barbershop, is providing a very different experience of menstrual care merchandise than consumers are accustomed to.
“We’re going to answer your questions, we’re going to demo it. You get to touch and feel everything in the store,” says founder Kim Rosas. “We can help you learn to fold it and put it into a demo model. By the time you go home, you actually know what was in the box and what to expect, which is very different than Target or CVS or online shopping.”
Period Nirvana, only one of two period-specific shops in the country, sells dozens of reusable period care products, including cups, discs, washable cloth pads and period underwear from global brands such as Nixit and Diva Cup from Canada, All Matters and Merula from Germany, Intimina’s Lily Cup from Sweden and Hello Period from Australia. Rosas co-designed a menstrual disc with Hello Period and then sold the company the intellectual property to patent.
American brand Saalt’s cups and underwear are available, too, as are organic, non-reusable period products like August’s tampons and Organic Initiative’s pads for customers who are curious but not ready to make the leap to reusable options. The store also offers cup washes, wipes, steam sanitizing devices, postpartum and menopause solutions, books, sexual wellness products from S’liquid and Dame, plan B emergency contraceptive and pregnancy tests. On top of all that, it features a mini-exhibition covering 100 years of menstrual merchandise.
Rosas believes the product variety is crucial to assisting customers in reaching what she refers to as “period nirvana.” “We carry a lot of specialized items that you don’t find on any shelf and are hard to find online as well. A little more boutique and a little more specialized for low cervixes or high cervixes,” she says, adding, “When you can’t feel [your menstrual cup or disc], when it’s completely comfortable, when you’re not leaking, that is when you reach period nirvana.”
Period products are eligible for purchase with Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts, and Period Nirvana accepts FSA/HSA cards at its store. Rosas gives receipts and instructions to customers who want to file for reimbursement.
Period Nirvana opens at a time when period care destinations and education are faltering. For the past several years, hundreds of community pharmacies have closed and drugstore chains like Walgreens have shuttered locations in North Carolina. Republican politicians are looking to limit sex education in the state’s schools.
Rosas is highly aware of the landscape of menstrual care information and business. She founded educational platform Put A Cup In It with Kim Hearn in 2015 and sold her stake in the company in 2020, when she launched online store Period.Shop. She learned from Period.Shop that an in-person setting is important for people to see and inquire about products unfamiliar to them like menstrual cups. Upfront, a reusable menstrual cup can be $30 to $40 versus about $10 for a box of disposable pads or tampons.
Rosas invested over $70,000 to build out Period Nirvana and obtain inventory for it. She put in a sink she describes as “Aesop-esque” on the store floor for demonstrating products and teaching customers how to clean menstrual cups and discs. There’s an electrical outlet where devices like steam sanitizers can be plugged in to demo.
Rosas’ decision to start Period Nirvana was eased by her purchase of the ground floor unit that houses its space. If it turns out that Asheville isn’t quite ready for a period care store, Rosas, who had to submit a three-year business plan for it as part of her mortgage approval process, can sell the unit or lease it to another business. “That would never be what I want to do, but it just gave me a little more confidence going into a risky retail concept,” she says, remarking, “Also, the rent can’t be increased on me.”
Community workshops on pelvic floor health, perimenopause, menopause and hormone health are in Period Nirvana’s future plans. One of Rosas’ big goals for it is to host a paid workshop for medical professionals. Pointing out that their training doesn’t delve into period care products, she says, “Even OBGYNs, most of them are just conveying what they know from personal experience or things that they’ve read if they’re male.”
Rosas finds that visitors to Period Nirvana often repeat misinformation that comes straight from their doctor. She’s passionate about arming medical professionals with accurate information. Rosas says, “People want to help their patients, and we want to help them help their patients.”
