The Wichita Eagle
9/16/2001

Candle Shop Has Smell of Success
The Wichita Eagle

Christal Sanford says her Classic Candles business is part art, part science, part manufacturing and completely successful.

She started making scented candles this summer in the vacant store at 200 W. Main St. in Valley Center. She is now selling them through Dillons and Hyvee grocery stores in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.

She opened a retail store in the front of her small plant at the end of August. "Scented candles are very popular," Sanford said.

"They're the least expensive luxury you can buy," she said.

The key to their popularity is the strength of the scent. She worked six months perfecting a technique that makes the candles smell strongly--a method she won't reveal.

She custom blends 43 scents. For instance, "Cinnamon Bun" is a mixture of cinnamon, butter and a few other flavors. One of the oddest she ever made was leather, she said.

She buys slabs of wax, melts it in 150 pound batches and pours the liquid wax into the jars, the adds the scent and wicks.

"I'm the only full-time worker, but I count for two because I'm here most of my life," she laughed. She estimates she works 80 hours a week.

She got into the candle-making business by beginning in the candle-selling business. She ran a daycare in her home in Park City for years, but when her children got older, she decided to do something different. So she hooked up with a candle company and sold the candles at craft shows for a year.

She sold $100,000 worth of candles--sending $85,000 of that to the company. That's why she's working for herself now.
"Oh, I love it. I can control my destiny all the way, whereas before I could not.

She said she will turn a profit by the end of the year, unless growth forces her to pump more money into equipment and help.

Classic Candles sell for from $5.75 for a 5-ounce candle to $15 for the 26-ounce candle.

Dan Voorhis