Amy's Candles offers new 'scent'-sations
Photo by Abby Morris
Amy Hamm, owner of Amy's Candles, hand pours a candle
in her Roan Mountain home.
|
By Abby Morris
Star Staff
amorris@starhq.com
If you love the ambiance that a sweet smelling
fragrance accompanied by the soft flicker of a glowing candle
provides for your home or work place, then Amy's Candles has
something for your tastes, no matter what your scent preference
is.
Amy Hamm runs Amy's Candles out of her Roan Mountain
home and all of the candles which the business offers are
hand poured and are triple-scented to provide for the best
possible quality in a fragrant candle. With more than 140
scents to choose from -- such as Cinnamon Bun, Watermelon
Patch, Mulberry, Sandalwood, Forest Pine and Banana Nut Bread
-- customers are sure to find something they will enjoy.
Hamm has plans for expanding her business soon
to include more items than her already popular candles. "We're
going to start doing lye soap, room sprays and air fresheners
for cars," she said, adding that she is also working on including
hard wax candles which are shaped to look like cakes or pies.
"We're really going to try to boost it up instead of just
doing the three sizes of candles."
She stated that she hopes her business will soon
offer wax tarts which sit on warmers and add fragrance to
areas where an open flame is not permitted or desired.
Another item Hamm would like to add to her inventory
are the popular light bulb rings which are placed on a lamp
and scent oil is placed in the ring. "When you turn on the
lamp it heats the scent up and it fills the room," she said.
"We've got all kinds of ideas and we are trying to add a little
at a time without getting ahead of ourselves."
Currently, Amy's Candles offers hand poured soft
wax candles in 8-ounce, 16-ounce and 24-ounce glass containers
which vary from jelly jars to more intricate glass bowls.
For Hamm, candlemaking began approximately three
years ago as a desire for higher quality candles which then
turned into a hobby before becoming her home-based business.
"I started making them because I got tired of buying candles
and they would burn a hole right down the middle and all of
the rest would be wasted," she said. "I really love it. It's
a hobby turned into a job."
After she began making candles for herself, Hamm's
friends and family began asking her to make candles for them
as well and that is when she realized that candlemaking could
be a good business opportunity which she could take advantage
of while still being able to be a "stay at home mom" for her
three children.
Currently, displays of Amy's Candles can be found
at area businesses where customers can purchase them or customers
can purchase the candles on the Internet. Hamm currently has
a Web site located at www.amyscandles.com and an online store
at the popular eBay site located at www.stores.ebay.com/AmysCandlesandMore.
Customers can phone or fax in their orders after viewing either
Internet location or use their credit card to purchase their
order online through the Pay Pal system.
Another aspect of Amy's Candles is that Hamm
offers the candles at a special rate to churches, schools
or organizations that would like to sell candles as a fund-raiser.
"Fund-raisers are a huge thing and we really love doing that,"
Hamm said. "They can either buy the candles in advance and
take them around or take samples and then take orders from
the scent list."
Hamm stated that one of her main focuses is on
customer satisfaction. "We guarantee our candles to burn all
the way through with no waste," she said, adding that she
loves to get customer feedback. Hamm can also do special orders
for customers as well. "If a customer wants a specific scent
that they like I will try to order it for them," she said.
Another aspect of Hamm's dedication to customer
satisfaction is that she offers free delivery of items purchased
from the business for any customer who lives in the local
Tri-Cities area.
To contact Hamm, you can call her at (423) 772-9408
or e-mail her at AmysCandlesTN@wmconnect.com.
