New Candle Store Ignites in Needham
August 5, 2024
• The Boston-based candle and diffuser shop replaces Your CBD Store on Great Plain Avenue.
Candle enthusiasts Albert Feldman and Greg Dekermenjian loved bringing scents into their home and the ritual of burning through a candle before introducing a new one. Over time, however, they noticed the black smoke and soot that accumulated in their apartment.
Their passion and quest for clean candles transformed their hobby into a business. Together, they founded Sky Candle Co., a non-toxic candle shop that now calls Needham home. The business — named after the couple’s French bulldog, Sky — celebrated its grand opening at 1096 Great Plain Ave. on Thursday.
It’s the candle store’s second brick-and-mortar, having opened their first retail location in Boston’s South End last August. Over this last year, Feldman said they’ve eyed the Boston suburbs as a possible market — many of their customers hail from Needham, Wellesley, Newton and surrounding towns.
To extend their Greater Boston presence and connect with those patrons closer to home, Feldman said they decided to set up shop here.
“We got great insight into the space, the neighborhood, the community,” Feldman said upon visiting, “[and] heard a lot of positive things that really resonated with what we wanted and where we hoped to be.”
The space itself is also about four times as large as their Boston store, Feldman said. The new storefront boasts a 13-foot candle bar that seats 10 people, Feldman said, which is twice as big as their Boston candle bar. There, customers can customize their own candle or diffuser by selecting fragrance oils. The store contains more than 50 scents to test, as well as ready-made candles and diffusers, Feldman said.
The build-out of the storefront was an accelerated one, with which Feldman and Dekermenjian are all too familiar — before their first in-person shopping experience, the couple solely set up for pop-ups and holiday markets, wherein they were tasked with decorating their booth in short order. The company has become a recurring vendor at Snowport and the SoWa Winter Festival.
There through it all was their dog Sky, who’s already stopped into the Needham store during their first few days. The husband duo — pup included — make it “very much a family business,” Feldman said.
“We support animal rescue through the purchase of our candles, and we have our namesake,” he said. “[Sky] is going on two years in a wheelchair now. We don’t know how much longer we’ll have her in our lives, but it’s really nice to have something to always remember her and to really internalize her for ourselves.”
While roaming the store, Sky will often walk around the pyramid of candles to give them a sniff, though she never seems to react positively or negatively, Feldman said.
Feldman, however, does have his favorite scent: sage and sandalwood, which is one of their warmer signature scents. Dekermenjian prefers fig and white tea, a more fresh and clean scent.
Despite the store’s previous owner, Sky Candle Co. does not carry any CBD candles or related products, Feldman said, but for customers looking for sleep aids, the lavender and driftwood candle is a popular option.
“I always say, ‘Lavender helps you sleep, but I wouldn’t recommend lighting a candle and going to sleep, maybe try the diffuser,’” Feldman said, laughing. Their palo santo scent and sage and sandalwood scent can also be used for healing and medicinal purposes, he added.
The business received a warm welcome last week, Feldman said, and as they look to the coming months, those holiday markets don’t seem too far away. Still, the owners are looking forward to getting to know Needham.
“We’re very excited. We really love being a part of all these different communities, bringing something to a consumer marketplace that’s a bit more interactive,” Feldman said. “We love getting to know our customers and seeing them again. We really love being in this industry and meeting people in this way.”
