Karen Kogut calls herself a religious bath-taker. Kogut likes baths so much, in fact, that she created Bathsplendor.com, an online store launched two months ago that offers more than 400 American-made, bath-friendly items.

Luxurious bubble baths, yummy-smelling soaps, tranquil candles, soothing music CDs, bath pillows and other items in Kogut’s online store come from 20 brands, including Thymes, Farmaesthetics, Archipelago and Davies Gate. One can search Kogut’s site by brand, fragrance, product or skin type.

On a quiet street in Lincoln Park, Kogut is seated at her dining room table after returning from a recent trip to New York City, where she talked to fashion/beauty magazine editors about Bathsplendor.com. Kogut, who is 47 but looks more like she’s in her 30s, has long, dark hair, and she talks with ease and excitement about the charms of taking a bath instead of showering. Taking a bath can be calming and relaxing, and it also can lower one’s heart rate, she says. Also, a bath takes only 15 minutes; if you spend much more time, then your skin may get dry.

Just don’t tell Kogut that your bathtub isn’t pretty or big enough to create a relaxing experience. Talking about her own bathtub, Kogut says, “It’s horrible!” She says her bathtub is ugly and mushroom-colored.

Still, she faithfully takes one bath in the morning and one at night. She’ll often light a candle in the bathroom and maybe have a sip of wine at night, too.

Kogut’s love for bath-taking really took off when she was studying business at the University of Texas at Austin and her 6’3” father added an extra-long bathtub to their family’s home in Austin, where Kogut grew up.

Fast-forward to October 2005, and Kogut says that Bathsplendor.com’s most popular sellers are bath bombs, which look like solid ice cream scoops that create bath bubbles when placed under running water. Men’s items, usually bought by women, are next in terms of popularity. Also, lavender is the most popular scent among Kogut’s customers, and vanilla is the second most popular scent.

After visiting Chicago and growing to love the city, Kogut moved up here about three years ago. She held a marketing job in Chicago, and before that Kogut managed a large department store and handled interior design work for the Four Seasons Hotels for many years. Then last fall she decided that she wanted to combine her business and retail background, attention to details, customer service skills and love for baths.

So, from October last year until two months ago, Kogut brainstormed and hammered out all the nitty-gritty details—from choosing a Web designer to coming up with unique shipping boxes to choosing products to sell—before the Bathsplendor.com launch.

From researching the demographics of her potential customers, Kogut learned that her customers most likely are women in their mid-30s to mid-40s, and they probably don’t have children, or if they do, they have older kids. The typical female customer also is probably working, shopping on the Web and making about $40,000 or more. And, Kogut says, “She likes to take care of herself.”

Kogut likes taking care of her customers, too. The pretty, feminine bath products on Bathsplendor.com are from only companies that Kogut feels have decent customer service, and she packs the products with care: She wraps bath items in purple polka-dot fabric, purple bubble wrap and shipping boxes featuring her Web site’s name in—you guessed it—purple, Kogut’s favorite color. She also adds a personal note with each package and often includes some free samples of other products.

Bath products sit neatly on black bookcases, and Kogut points out some of the most unique bath items for sale. She picks up an elegant, crystal bottle of bath gel by Dallas-based Lady Primrose’s, a very feminine and luxury label that Kogul discovered in London. Then she unravels some purple bubble wrap from around what looks like a wine bottle, but the Aqua Dessa bottle contains a wine bath, which is like a bubble bath that smells like grapes.

Bathsplendor.com offers not only wine baths but also tub cocktails that create “a great party without the hangover.” Types of tub cocktails, or soothing bath salts by Jane, include mojito, cosmo or mai tai.

Everyone deserves a break, and whether customers choose bath bombs, mojito bath salts or wine baths, Kogut says that hopefully all of her customers will have good, relaxing experiences.