For the 52 weeks ended July 12, 2020, candle sales were up some 17%, according to data from Information Resources Inc.
That provided a boost for larger local candle firms like Irvine’s Voluspa, which leases about 85,000 square feet of space near John Wayne Airport, and Wooden Wick Co., which recently shifted its headquarters and manufacturing facilities from Laguna Hills to a much larger facility in Irvine.
For Laguna Beach’s Laguna Candles, a family-owned business that specializes in higher-end candles, part of that increase in sales was related to other national events.
“Many consumers have wanted to make more conscious decisions in the types of businesses they support,” said Laguna Candles’ Sharie Hendricks, who launched her company from her home in 2003, and later opened a retail and manufacturing space on Laguna Canyon Road.
The Black-owned business offers a variety of homemade candles, which are handpoured and handcrafted, plus fragrances and room sprays.
The company sells to individual consumers as well as local businesses such as hotels, and offers a private-label option.
Laguna Candles has also become a popular choice among corporations for employee gifts; the company offers candle-making classes to groups and companies for team-building events.
The company now includes Hendrick’s husband, Clarence, their three daughters and a few other employees.
Soy Based
The business started because Hendricks wanted a cleaner burning candle for her home.
At the time, most candles were made using paraffin wax, which is a petroleum product.
After months of testing, she came upon a soy-blended wax, and decided to offer a collection of candles that were earth friendly and clean burning.
Being in Laguna Beach offered the company access to a community of artists and business partners, as well as affluent customers and out-of-town shoppers.
Some candle collections offered by the company are poured in unique glass containers made by local artists; the Heirloom Artisan candles, currently running $150 each, have proved to be among its best-known offerings.
Those products are signed by the artist who made it, and the glass vessel is reusable once candle is fully burned.
“We started out in Orange County because it was home, and it has proved to be a great place to do business,” Hendricks said.
The company typically makes its products in small batches, but Laguna Candles’ growing popularity means it occasionally does larger batches of work.
In 2019, it announced a deal with the Ellen DeGeneres Show to make a custom fragrance and candle for the show’s “Be Kind” subscription gift box. Some 16,000 candles were produced.
Budget Offerings
While last year’s boost in online sales was due in part to the pandemic, the company also reached a widened customer base looking to support Black-owned businesses following social justice movements in 2020.
Laguna Candles was already making moves to increase its audience prior to those events.
Hendricks said via Instagram last year that the company was frequently being asked, “Do you carry a budget friendly candle?”
“As a luxury brand we had to sit on that … and reflect on what we could do to bring a budget friendly candle, with the same high-quality components.”
For Black History Month last year, it offered a limited-edition “Noir Laguna” offering, with a 60-hour burn time, at a discounted price.
