Home life
A burning desire to
enhance homes
F
Yankee Candle began when
Mike Kitteredge, a 16-year-old
high school student, melted
down some crayons to make
his first candle, a gift for his
mother; his intention was to
create something to warm her
heart and make her smile. The
location was Massachusetts.
The year was 1969. When a
neighbour saw his candle she
persuaded him to sell it to her.
With the money, he bought
enough wax to make two more
candles, one for his mother, one
to sell. From a kitchen table idea
and with his father’s help, he
opened a small retail shop and
from that, Yankee Candle has
grown to be one of the world’s
leading brands in the candle
industry, renowned for true to
life fragrances which capture
the essence of each season and
distant memory.
42 Resident
HOME LIFE Resident Aug-Sep.indd 42
ollow your nose in
Parchment Street and it will
lead you to a relatively new
independent store, The Candle
Co.
Owners Catherine and Mike
O’Brien had only been open a
few weeks when we stopped by
to ask what’s hot in the world of
melting wax!
Cat has worked in retail all her
life, as a 13-year-old with a parttime job in her mum’s shop to,
more recently, Yankee Candle.
With a refreshingly amusing
comment – ‘I like to burn things!’
– Cat discovered the fabulous
range of smells and knew that
one day she would like to have
her own shop selling them. Four
new scents are released each
quarter, much to the delight of
Yankee Candle fans.
With the demise of Beales in
Winchester, there’s nowhere else
to