Future Of Candle Business Looks Bright

Baseball. Apple pie. Vanilla-scented votives.

The candle, to its dismay, now ranks as an American pastime.

For thousands of years humankind tamed the darkness with candlelight. Candles were our first utility, essential to the progress of the species, a household necessity on par with bread and water.

Today, coincidentally, the candle remains “an absolute must” - although that’s because it’s hip, happenin’ and the height of sophistication to melt wax. The candle, once exalted as a tool of survival, has fallen victim to the Martha Stewart-ization of culture: It has become a decorating gizmo.

This is no minor obsession. In 1997, We the People will spend just less than $2 billion on 4 billion candles. Everyone from Wal-Mart to Donna Karan has gotten into the wick biz. The industry has grown 25 percent annually over the past few years, and no one sees our pillar passion tapering off.

Where will it lead? Are we becoming a nation of cinnamon-apple and pumpkin-spice addicts? Will we soon require 12-step programs to wean us from our fetish with flickering light and faux-fir scents?

It’s possible.

Blame it on “nesting,” say those in the candle industry, the trend that has us spending more time in the comfort and safety of our homes. Candles, an affordable luxury, allow us to create a peaceful inner sanctum, so unlike the hostile environment outside.

“In today’s world, so many of us work under bright lights,” notes B.J. Lacasse, owner of Wicky Wicks in Fort Worth. Even Lacasse, a candle fanatic, labors under oppressive fluorescent bulbs during the workweek. “When we come home we want to find our homes more of a sanctuary,” she says. Candlelight throws a romantic glow over the grimiest rooms in the house, takes 10 years off anyone’s kisser, and, if scented, masks the most obnoxious odors.

Lacasse recently heard a 6-year-old girl ask Santa Claus for a candle. “We all search for an inner peace,” she says, “whether we do it consciously or unconsciously.” In Lacasse’s opinion, candles help guide us in our quest.

Fort Worth candle shop owner Diane Bell theorizes that people buy more candles these days because “they’re getting something out of them,” i.e. a fragrance reminiscent of Grandma’s house, or winter in Colorado, or a springtime garden.

The growing popularity of aromatherapy hasn’t hurt the business either, though Bell scoffs at the idea that scents can cure. “I don’t believe that there’s any candle on the face of the earth that’s going to heal your arthritis,” she says. “But there’s tons of people who do. And that’s fine. Buy ‘em.”

Decorative candles are unavoidable: Eddie Bauer, Banana Republic, Eckerd - even Donna Karan sells designer candles that run a cool $58.

Pier 1 will double the number of scents it offers from four to eight in the coming year, and company candle buyer Yvonne Rubenstein says the trend has yet to peak. Consumers are nabbing pillar candles (tall, wide and usually cylindrical) at an increasing rate and people are lighting candles in bunches all over their homes, not just one here or there.

Pier 1 also sells the mother of all candles: a 6-inch-wide, 6-inch-tall, three-wick pillar that’s flying out the door despite its heft.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SOME WAX FACTS Americans will buy 4 billion candles in 1997. Women buy 96 percent of candles sold. The holiday season accounts for 35 percent of yearly sales. The Romans are credited with inventing the wick candle, made from animal fat. Beeswax candles, first used in the Middle Ages, burn cleaner than tallow, and initially only the wealthy could afford them. Candles that have been refrigerated burn more slowly and evenly. Wrap them in plastic first so their wicks do not absorb moisture. Store candles in cool, dry places and lay them flat to prevent warping. Place burning candles 3 inches apart so they do not melt one another. When burning a pillar for the first time, allow the candle to burn long enough for a pool of wax to extend to the pillar’s edges. It will burn more evenly each lighting thereafter. Burn votive candles in tight holders that prevent the candles from spreading. They will last longer and smell stronger this way. Blow out a candle by holding your finger in front of the flame and blowing at your finger. The air will extinguish the flame from either side, preventing hot wax from splattering. Never leave a burning candle unattended!

Sources: National Candle Association and B.J. Lacasse, owner of Wicky Wicks.