Scented Candles: Waxing Poetic

Don’t expect to be bombarded with treats this holiday season just because you smell sugar cookies, gingerbread, cinnamon buns, mulled cider and other delectable fragrances.

The savory smells wafting from your host’s home could be nothing more than wicks and wax.

Candle makers have something to cheer about during the holidays because December accounts for 35% of sales. Savvy candle makers know this and introduce new scents, such as Village Candle’s bubbly mix of ginger ale and champagne, called Celebration.

The nation’s fascination with those scents has driven candle sales to a new level, with sales doubling over four years.

“Scented candles are now in every type of store that you go into,” said Marianne McDermott of the National Candlemakers Assn. in Washington. “The retail aspect has exploded. We really have to cite fragrances as the major reason for that.”

The trend has helped Village Candle founder Paul J. Aldrich turn a hobby that started in his kitchen with $20 borrowed from a friend into a $25-million business that has outgrown two factories in six years.

“It’s a great way to fragrance a room, but it’s also a great way to create ambience,” said Aldrich, who now lives in Greenland, N.H. “You know how romantic fire can be.”

Gone are the days when the only scented candles shoppers could find were plain vanilla and bayberry. The number of fragrance and color choices skyrocketed in the 1990s.

Village Candle, for example, offers 64 scents in addition to the Celebration fragrance just in time for New Year’s 2000. Yankee Candle, the nation’s leading maker of specialty scented candles, offers more than 160 scents.

Sales have corresponded with the growing number of scents. Nationwide, retailers sell about $2.3 billion worth of candles a year in a market that has been growing at a rate of up to 15% a year, according to the National Candlemakers Assn.

Though the trade group does not differentiate between sales of scented and unscented candles, anyone who has visited a mall in recent years can see the proliferation of candles with such romantic and mouthwatering names as Angel Kisses, Hearts and Flowers, Cinnamon Bun, Irish Cream and Chocolate Lover’s Delight.

The scented candles are also seasonal: Village Candle offers April Showers for spring, Pumpkin Patch for fall and Winter Wonderland for the holidays.

Yankee Candle in Deerfield, Mass., founded 30 years ago, also has experienced increased demand for scented candles. Yankee, which had more than $175 million in sales last year, opened 40 stores in 1999, spokeswoman Susan Stockman said.

“There is an enormous demand in this country. It’s become a true home fashion statement,” Stockman said.

Buying clusters of candles to decorate has become so popular that Aldrich often chooses a color before he picks a scent, believing his soft, marbled hues catch customers’ eyes in stores even before the fragrances tickle their noses.

“It’s getting all the senses to work together,” he said.

The boost also can be traced to the increased popularity of aromatherapy, the use of scent to change mood. Candle makers have picked up on that trend as well.

Aldrich is introducing an aromatherapy line in 2000.

“People are stressed and they want to relax at home. One of the ways is to relax with scented candles, which evoke all sorts of memories that are pleasant,” Stockman said.

Finally, the scented candle has emerged as a popular gift for a dinner party host, or any other occasion.

That’s also not lost on Aldrich, who once received an $8,000 order from a beverage company executive who wanted a case of every Village Candle scent for his workers.