HANCOCK COUNTY — Scents like banana nut bread, cedar wood, tobacco, cherry and chocolate fudge fill Shelaine Gilmer’s new store, where jars of colorful candle wax cover shelves.
The Candle Baker celebrates its grand opening of handmade products west of Greenfield on Saturday, Aug. 24, almost two years after Gilmer lost her candy store to a fire. The new store is at 3111 W. U.S. 40.
Gilmer owned Pop INdy, a candy and soda shop at 1004 E. Main St., located in a shopping plaza that Mueller Auto Body anchored. A fire broke out in the body shop in November 2017 before spreading to Pop INdy and two other businesses.
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Pop INdy had been open for about a year.
“We were doing great there too; it was awesome,” Gilmer said. “And we could’ve went back in that spot, but we were already outgrowing it.”
She looked at other available locations in Greenfield but discovered running water service for the ice cream operation she wanted to add would have been too difficult.
Gilmer and her husband, John, have sold candles online for years. They started out selling other candle-makers’ products and then enlisted them to create candles with scents that they came up with.
Gilmer said John asked her a couple years ago if she thought she could make a candle. She figured she could try.
She’s been making them ever since. In the work space in the back of her store, Gilmer heats wax in 65-pound heaters, adds scented oils and colors and pours the mixtures into jars before letting the candles cure for a day or two atop racks. Her daughters, Emily and Samantha, help out, and Gilmer also has a worker come in to trim wicks, cap jars and apply stickers.
“We put the max scent in our candles,” Gilmer said. “They smell really good; they fill a whole house.”
One of their more popular candles is a blend of banana nut bread on top with cedar wood on the bottom, she said.
“Sometimes we just use it straight from the supplier, and other times we mix and match and have fun, create our own scents too,” Gilmer said.
Gilmer is looking forward to returning to the customer interactions she had while operating her candy store.
“I really miss — when I had Pop INdy — the people coming in every day,” she said. “Because Greenfield’s so small that you get a lot of regulars coming in. I’m hoping I will get that here too.”
Karma Records, which has three shops in Indianapolis, carries the Gilmers’ candles. Jim Ector, co-owner of the chain, said his shops have been doing so for about a year.
“There’s a lot of candles out there that smell really good, and then you burn them and they really don’t smell like anything,” he said.
Ector added he quickly noticed that wasn’t the case for the banana nut bread candle he sampled from the Gilmers before deciding to take on their brand, however.
Gilmer even makes a candle named after Karma Records. Ector said it’s based on Nag Champa incense, which Karma Records has been burning in its shops for decades.
Gilmer said she’s especially interested in creating candles for fundraisers, adding she can personalize products to match schools’ and organizations’ colors.
She’s considering having dedicated hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Whenever she’s in pouring candles, the open sign will be out as well, she said.
At its grand opening on Saturday, The Candle Baker will have food, give away free candle samples and offer drawings for prizes.
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WHAT: Grand opening
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24
WHERE: The Candle Baker, 3111 W. U.S. 40, Greenfield
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