From new storefronts to online shops, the candle business is booming.
Driven by unique, eco-friendly, handmade wax creations, Yahoo! Finance reported in February that the candle business in the United States will be a $13 billion industry by 2030. And with more than 10,000 scents available to consumers (according to the National Candle Association), even the pickiest nose can choose something to burn in their home.
In Southwestern Pennsylvania, many boutique chandlers have popped up in the past decade with their own identities and candlemaking capacities, many moving from hobbyist to businessperson.
“When I was staying home with my daughter, I started making candles, baking, just little hobby things, and I really, really liked the candles,” said Amanda Hosner, who now owns North Ave Candles. She does a bustling online wholesale business and has a storefront in the Allentown neighborhood.
Like many others in her field, she went from small batches made for friends and family to selling at farmers markets and artist marts to making a go at a full-fledged shop.
“The business just kind of started going and I was running alongside it,” Hosner said.
Brynn Edelmann is still in the early stages. She started making candles for fun about two years ago and just opened her Etsy shop, emBErs Candles By Brynn. It started as a pastime, but quickly turned into something more.
“I started getting interested in it and getting high-quality wax and … messing around with it,” she said.
With so many inspirational wax pourers across the region, you may be tempted to see if you have what it takes to light the world on fire. Here’s what the experts had to say.
Dollars and scents
Especially in the internet age, the key to making cash is finding a niche while making room for the classics. For example, while PSquare Scents in Bellevue offers living room mainstays such as banana bread and honeysuckle, you can also purchase scents including “Graveyard Dirt” and “Jag Off.”
“We have some crazy fragrances, but they’re cleaner fragrances that don’t have all the chemicals and additives to them,” said PSquare owner Paul Barnard.
Some of their best sellers are teak wood and “Volcano,” a summery, tropical fragrance. He especially extolled the virtues of their “Fruity Cereal” candle.
“It smells like Froot Loops,” Barnard said.
Hosner saw her popularity explode with her book-inspired line of scent combinations. Her Banned Books Collection includes a “Catcher in the Rye” candle (bourbon and tobacco flower), a “To Kill a Mockingbird” candle (mint sweet tea) and a “Beloved” candle (blackberry pie), among others.
“The first book candle I ever came up with was ‘The Great Gatsby,’ ” Hosner said. “It was a gift for someone who was having a ‘Gatsby’-themed birthday party. The scent is gin, juniper and daisy.”
Then, you can’t discount the classics. At Oakmont Candle Works, owner Tabatha Flanick is already preparing for the August start of the fall candle buying season, one of their busiest times of year.
“One of the fragrances that’s coming up that’s a true favorite is our Fall Leaves and our Pumpkin and Spiced Pear,” she said. “One of the top scents that we sell all year would be our Warm Apple Pie or Cinnamon Honey Butter.”
At Rustic Smoke Candle Co. in Greensburg, owner Samantha Dascenzo also sells lots of the cozier candles.
“Farmhouse Morning was the very first scent I ever made. It is maple butter, caramel and vanilla, and it remains our best seller all year round,” Dascenzo said. “I don’t think we could ever get rid of it.”
For something a little lighter, Edelmann has seen a lot of demand for her Lemon Cream scent emBErs — but she’s got a lot of variety up her sleeve.
“I have a sampler, a four-pack of three-ounce candle tins that I put different scents in, so if people want to smell my different scents (they can),” she said.
The magic is in the making
Market research says that candle consumers have an eye on being eco-friendly. As a result, many makers have moved toward soy wax or paraffin-soy blends, as well as using all-cotton wicks and essential oils for fragrance.
In fact, Barnard started making candles more than 20 years ago to fit his own health needs.
“I’m allergic to a lot of corporate companies’ fragrances and candles. … Any of the corporate stuff will give me really bad migraines,” he said.
Despite the challenge of getting good “hot throw” (the amount of scent a candle gives off while burning) with pure soy wax, Barnard and many other local makers get compliments on how strong their scents are.
Dascenzo started making candles in 2017 and opened her storefront in 2024 in Greensburg.
“I was a person who always had them burning in my home. Then I started to do a little bit more research and I just realized that what I was burning in my house wasn’t up to what you should be consuming daily,” she said.
She pours about 300 candles per day on pouring days in her home workshop.
“I love it. … It’s not the neatest process,” she said. “I think it’s one of those things where I go over there and I don’t even think about time because I’m just kind of in there.”
Despite what she laughingly referred to as “waxidents” — a constant menace for any candle maker — she loves what she does.
Flanick has been making candles to sell since before the pandemic.
“It’s very relaxing. … I can put my heart into it without having to worry about all of the home stuff that you worry about,” she said. “I like being able to make fragrances and scents for people who are maybe looking for a memory.”
It’s also a good outlet for creativity. Edelmann purchases many of her candle containers at thrift stores and finds fun ways of presenting her candles, such as pink-and-orange ombre color schemes or candles topped with cute wax succulents. She even sometimes adds mica powder to her candles for a bit of glittery sparkle.
“It’s so pretty when it burns,” she said.
Hosner summed up the joy of the hobby-to-business pipeline: “You just make this functional thing, and it’s this little delight that usually $20 or less,” she said. “I feel like the world needs all the $20 delights we can get right now.”