"Candles in the window and on the shelves, in a myriad of colors, shapes, and fragrances, leave no doubt what keeps business alight at Candles & More. But, as its name implies, this store isn't limited to candles. Along with its kindled creations, the company's other main component, invitations for weddings and parties, offers a fine complement for customers hosting weddings or other festive gatherings.
Owner Judy Griffin said that her business, opened in 1966, is somewhat seasonal. From now through summer, most of it will be wedding-related. She also carries wedding accessories, such as picture frames, decorative items, and guest books. From fall through winter, candles, party invitations and holiday items account for most sales.
The candles range from tiny tea lights to tall tapers. Griffin carries candles from three major lines, Colonial, Blue Sky Clayworks, and Tyler, plus some smaller companies. People concerned about the environment can even buy candles made from soy oil or palm oil.
The candles' scents can be flower- or plant-based, food-based, neutral, or artificially created. Names such as White Rose Truffle, Apricot Mango, Citrus-Mimosa, and Gingerbread Latte tempt customers to smell them. Colonial's Cucumber-Melon candles, new a few years ago, are "still a top-seller," Griffin said, as are Tyler's candle fragrance called "Diva," and its wisteria.
The latest trend in candle scents is crisp, clean, and subtle, Griffin said. Examples are Colonial's Harbor Mist and High Cotton and Lampberger's Fresh Linen fragrance oil. Candles enclosed in a jar are safer than pillar candles, and "they tend to be more fragrant," Griffin said. She tries out each scent. "I don't bring any candle in to sell unless I've burned it first," she explained.
Customers concerned about the safety of a burning candle can choose wickless candles set on candlewarmers. Another option is to pour some fragrance oil onto dried reeds set in a bottle. The reeds soak up the oil and disperse the scent gradually, Griffin said.
The Lampberger fragrance oils are among the most potent because the oils contain chemicals to kill odor-causing bacteria in the air. When they are burned, the unpleasant odor disappears, replaced by the oil's scent (numerous choices available) or no scent, if that is what the customer desires.
The tallest candles, tapers, are unscented because they usually are placed on dinner tables. Hostesses don't want the candles' scents competing with the aromas of food. Candles & More has tapers in a rainbow of colors.
Why are candles so popular? Griffin said, "People enjoy the fragrances, and it's relaxing, soothing to watch the flames." Most candle buyers are women, about 25-40, but she has "a lot of men customers who are single." For the college men who are fixing dinners for their women friends, she carries some less expensive candles as well.
Candles that cost more are, in the long run, less expensive, Griffin advised, because their scents last longer. They're made with 100-percent high-grade paraffin oil. In cheaper candles made with low-grade paraffin oil, the fragrance rises to the top and lasts for only two or three burnings. The cheapest candles, those made with petroleum oil, smoke.
Griffin started Candles & More after retiring from a career in development at the University of Kentucky and Midway College. She likes the flexibility of owning her own business and "getting to know the customers." The hardest part of being in business is definitely "keeping up with the paperwork."
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