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Bridge Street Candle Company Thrives

Crookston Daily Times
Written By: Natalie J. Ostgaard, City Editor

Shoppers browsed at the Bridge Street Candle Company's recent open house. (Natalie Ostgaard, Photographer)

November 18, 2005 - When Joyce and Bob Johnson first purchased the candle-making supplies, equipment and remaining candle inventory from the Sisters of Mount St. Benedict, they weren't quite sure where their new business would take them. Now, more than three years later, the Bridge Street Candle Company has greatly exceeded their early expectations.

They started out running the shop from their Bridge Street home but discovered the house wasn't nearly large enough to do everything they needed with the candles. Plus, with "a large dog and five grandchildren under the age of five visiting periodically," said Joyce. It also wasn't very convenient.

"When people would come to our home to look at candles, I'd have to haul out these big Tupperware containers each time," she added. "So it didn't work real good. It overtook our home."

In order to show off their wares, they also held candle parties. "We had kind of a base clientele then," said Joyce, adding that more of a variety of customers drop by now.

After doing everything from their home for a couple of year, they purchased a large brick building, previously owned by the Swenson Brothers Company, located along the railroad tracks off North Main Street. They went to work remodeling the south end of the building and Bob put his carpentry skills to good use. Then, in November last year, the Johnsons officially opened up the shop at 111 A Street, four blocks north of Taco John's.

"We want people to know we're here," she explained. "A lot of people don't realize North Main becomes A Street when you get up to this warehouse."

The recent additions of a large sign on the street in front of the building should help. It depicts the business' new official name: Bridge Street Candle Company and On the Right Track Gift Shop.

"We kept the name even though moved," said Joyce. "That was the beginning, and we like that better than A street. We also already had everything done in that logo."

While they still do some work out of their home, "it's nice now to have someplace to go and work and to have a showroom," Joyce said.

Because Bob works full time for the City of Crookston and Joyce teaches drama at the University of North Dakota Theatre Department, the shop is not open mornings. Currently, hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 1 - 6 p.m., Thursday 1 - 8 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, the shop will be open evenings, longer on Saturdays and also on Sundays. Watch their Times ads for more details.

Filling a niche
Joyce said making candles appealed to her and Bob because of its artistic sense. They've both been in number of Community Theatre plays and generally enjoy anything that taps into their creativity.

"The sisters have been wonderful to us," she asserted. "Some of them showed us how to pour and work with the equipment. ...They still get calls about candles and refer them to us."

For more than 60 years, the sisters made their unique and popular candles from a small building that was torn down a few years ago. With no place to continue their work, coupled with an aging population that found it increasingly difficult to do the work, they decided to let the shop go.

"So I guess we're carrying on a tradition," said Joyce.

The Johnsons also acquired expertise on the art of candle-making by visiting other candle factories and referring to a lot of books.

Many - including the Johnsons at first - don't realize how much work is involved in making candles.

"You have to stand for hours at a time, you can't pour candles sitting down. It can also be hard on the eyes." It's not unusual for Bob to be still up at 1 a.m. pouring wax, as some types of candles take hour to complete, she added.

While the shop displays a wide array of seasonal and general candles, the business also caters to a custom market, Joyce explained. with 48 scents - more when combining some - and infinite colors as well as more than 100 mold shapes and three types of waxes available," can do pretty much anything for you. ... People don't have to have a dark green candle in pine or spruce, they can order it in vanilla or melon if they want. We match scents with people's tastes, which is a very individual thing."

For such occasions as weddings, they consult with the bride and groom as to their wishes. "We don't have unity candles made up ahead of time because we want them to choose the elements they want, like scents, labels, designs, and so on. It's a custom service."

Joyce stressed that if some customers don't see what they want in the store, "talk to Bob or me and we can, if at all possible, do up what you want." They try to have at least one votive of each scent for customers to sniff. They can also custom match colors.

They have candles to appeal to men, women, students and children, and even sports enthusiasts. For Vikings fans, there's the Viking guy and footballs, which can be done in any color. There are also baseballs, basketballs and baseball caps.

Destination
The historic 94-year-old building was built by Standard Oil, hence the loading docks in the rear, facing the railroad tracks. It has housed several different businesses throughout the years but sat empty the last few, Joyce explained.

Inside, the candle company currently only takes up about a fourth of the long building, leaving plenty of room for expansion. The Johnsons tried to retain as much of the original decor as possible, which leaves the walls with three finishes: Knotted pine, brick and painted. They also incorporated renovated gun cabinets and antique furniture to display items.

The store now includes other items, primarily from local artisans: Black River Wares pottery by Marjorie Shafer, photography by Rand Hughes and Alvern Wentzel, Kidz Knitz by Marian Normandin, cards by Gaye Wick, and painted art by Sharon Peters. It also offers unique jewelry pieces by J. Austa Jewelry from Minneapolis as well as special gift-type books.

"We just wanted a variety of things, different than others offered in town, to have it more of a destination, a shopping opportunity," said Joyce. "I believe that Crookston right now is a good place for specialty shops. This is a little bit off the beaten path but it's only four blocks from downtown." With all this huge space, Joyce said they're very open to the possibility of opening the rest of the building for someone to add a coffee shop, shore store or something else.

"We would love to make it a like a little mini-mall," she said, noting that she's seen successful similar ventures in Crookston. "We just take it a day at a time. Who knows maybe it will be our retirement business."