SOUTH SHORE ENTREPRENEUR – PATTY DYER – She sells smells in Holbrook shop: Not just plain candles at Esscents
By ALYSA LANDRY
The Patriot Ledger
HOLBROOK – Close your eyes and conjure up the smell of a rose garden, a walk along the beach or your grandmother’s kitchen on baking day.
These are the scents Patty Dyer, owner of Esscents Candles, in a plaza on North Franklin Street in Holbrook, had in mind when she designed her shop’s ‘‘sniffing wall,’’ which is lined with shelves of already opened candles that can be heated up so customers can smell them.
Dozens of gel candles line the shelves along the wall, and Dyer, armed with a blow dryer to heat the gel and release the scents, caters to her customers’ every olfactory whim.
‘‘I spend a great deal of time at the sniffing block wall,’’ the 44-year-old Holbrook resident said. ‘‘It’s a way for people to sample the scents before they buy the candles.’’
Five years ago, bogged down by the demands of two jobs, Dyer began to search for a business model that offered financial and personal freedom.
She happened on a Newport, R.I., boutique that carried gel candles – handcrafted candles made of mineral oil gel that offer a ‘‘clean’’ alternative to paraffin wax. Dyer returned home with several gel candles and an inextinguishable excitement for business.
She called the Ohio-based Gellite Candles and signed on as a distributor. She opened Esscents Candles and Gifts on Dec. 10.
Since then, she’s noticed two types of shoppers in the store: those looking for an elegant addition to their homes and those in search of a natural remedy for any number of physical or emotional ailments.
‘‘When you light a gel candle, the ambience fills the whole room,’’ Dyer said. ‘‘There’s also a big market for aromatherapy and emotional health.’’
The candles come in tea lights, decorative urns or wine glasses. The gel itself can be ordered in plain styles or embellished with seashells, gems or sea salt.
An aromatherapy chart on the wall directs customers toward scents that suggest relief from physical ills like asthma, memory loss and headaches or emotional problems such as depression, grief and insecurity.
The scents range from earthy to floral fragrances and from fruity smells to a candle that captures the freshness of a rain forest. Dyer also sells candles with seasonal scents like pumpkin pie and sugar plum.
Despite the array of scents, it’s the substance of the candles that attracts customers to the small shop, Dyer said. Unlike wax candles, gel candles burn clean and cool, and they burn about 20 percent longer.
‘‘It doesn’t produce all the toxins and carcinogens that come from burning paraffin wax candles,’’ Dyer said of the gel. ‘‘And even though the flame itself is hot, the gel and the urn don’t heat up.’’
The candles range in size from 4.5 to 16 ounces, and their burn times range from 40 to 250 hours.
One customer, Kenneth Marisalo, who owns Sebastian Hair Salon, two doors down from Esscents, said he recently ventured into the store for Christmas shopping and left with gifts for several friends.
‘‘I’ve bought a lot of candles in my life,’’ he said. ‘‘These are different. They smell like real roses, not the artificial wax smell.’’
Esscents Candles
Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted Monday, January 15, 2007
