If you approach candles as you would wine tasting, you will understand Sweet Scents... you will notice that at first you gravitate toward the sweeter fragrances, and as your nose develops, you will want to experiment with the more earthy and unusual fragrances. We take a different approach than the usual manufacturer (Yankee, Partylite, Village, and others from whom we diligently convert folks away), in order to entertain and train your olfactory sense and enhance the ambience around you.

About Sweet Scents Candle Co.

Sweet Scents LLC is a family and women-owned business located near Amish country in S.E. Pennsylvania. Our growth since our 1997 startup has been nothing short of phenomenal; we hope it may be due to our reputation in two areas:

1. potent emissions (you will not find more potency anywhere)
2. unique fragrances (perfumery & olfactory uniqueness)

We do no active marketing - our worldwide customers visit and repurchase from us based solely on world-of-mouth and industry buzz.

Our candles go well beyond the standard "triple-scented" quality. Of course, they are made with the top-quality scents, waxes, wicks (German, no lead), and additives. And of course our candles are hand-poured (no blown extrusion process, for example). But unlike other top candle manufacturers, our focus is on scent strength and fragrance uniqueness... these are the areas in which we set ourselves apart.

Trademarks and Copyrights

This site is owned and operated by Sweet Scents LLC. All materials appearing on this site are protected by Sweet Scents LLC copyrights, 1998-2007, and are the sole property of Sweet Scents LLC. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in any way exploit any such content, nor may you distribute any part of this content over any network, including a local area network, sell or offer it for sale, or use such content to construct any kind of database. Copying or storing any content except with the prior written permission of Sweet Scents LLC is expressly prohibited. All Rights Reserved.

Errors and Omissions

Sweet Scents LLC is not responsible for any inaccuracies or omissions contained within the Sweet Scents Candle Co. website. All policies, prices, and products are subject to change without notice.

Please Contact Us:

Sweet Scents LLC
25 Sandy Circle, Suite 101
Manchester, PA 17345

email:  candles@SweetScentsCandles.com  or SweetScentsCandles@comcast.net
 

Posted in October of 2007:

I am Barbie, the founder and owner of Sweet Scents LLC... I am pleased to make your introduction. This next section is unusual (with regards to manufacturing/retail websites) in that it is very personal...  But somehow it seems to just make sense at this point in my company's life. If you do not mind the personal touching the business, I would love for you to read on...

May I first say that we owe our customers a very large apology.  In March of 2006 we left you in the lurch... we gently and quietly closed our operations.  Hundreds of emails and dozens of phone calls passed and still we had no official "reason".  Well, we DID, but it was not a good "professional" reason, and thus we never made it public.  It took a full year before we were able to admit that our management team's personal life choices, priorities, and goals had superseded our business plans.

You see, Sweet Scents was a phenomenal success.  In the past years we had been approached by very large national retailers and franchisors, but each and every time although we were sorely tempted, we turned them down.  It came down to our original business philosophy, which actually had little to do with business:  "family first".  In order to work with the retailers and franchisors we would have had to compromise in a lot of areas, some of which we were comfortable with, and some not.  For example, in order to fit into the schema of a large 100+-store Hallmark store franchisor was interested in, we would have had to reduce our fragrance loads from around 9.5% (the maximum the wax will hold) to around 4-6% (the current "triple-scenting" industry standard, though it is not an official standard, and we in fact do not even like the phrase).  Also, it would have required production 5-7 days a week, during standard business hours.  These are two things were were not willing to compromise on.  The former would have us lose our competitive advantage (and one of the two things we are best known for) and the latter would compromise our non-business "business" philosophy of "family first".

(About "family first": we really practiced it.  For example, our employees always had a lot of flexibility with their schedules - in fact, Laura and Margie sometimes came to work during the night, in pajamas, because it suited their family needs better.  And we hired people from our churches who were in need of jobs, due to family circumstances.  We put our money where our philosophy was, truly.)

To any other M.B.A. it may sound silly to NOT grow your business.  But to us, it just made sense.  As a company, we were WHO we were because of WHO we were... do you follow?

This is where the story (chatty as it already is) becomes personal.  After years of infertility (4 failed in vitro fertilizations, 1 miscarriage) my hubby Tad and I adopted 2 sweet baby girls.  Our first, Ava, was born 3 months prematurely (at 2.5 pounds) and my first separation from Sweet Scents came when I spent a few months across the country in Louisiana to be with my new daughter in the NICU.  With Laura taking the helm, I managed to juggle running the company from miles away with my new family duties.  But as our family grew (with the birth of Keira) it became clear that I had an even bigger choice to make.  No longer was the question about letting the company grow, but now it was whether I, as founder and mama to Sweet Scents, could continue to run the company.  And Sweet Scents may not have been recognizable without me... it has my personal touch everywhere, but especially with regards to the fragrances.

So you can see that my new mama duties to my daughters (and hubby) superseded my mama duties to my original "baby", my company.  It was a very difficult decision, and I shed more tears than you may imagine, and a longing remained.  But once the decision was made, it was made.  On hindsight, it was the right decision, and it DID fit in perfectly with the original (non-) business philosophy of "family first".  I stayed true to our family, and my company, but not to our customers.  And that is where my apology comes in... I am truly, truly, truly sorry that we left you in the lurch... and I know we did.  I wish I had the courage to come out and tell my personal story earlier... I think it just took time to reflect and step away for me to understand that it IS okay to mix the personal with the business, sometimes.

If you are still reading, well, thank you.  As a gift to you, I would like to share with you my hubby Tad's and my adoption website.  It is the website that brought to us two beautiful birth mommies, Jenelle and Valerie, who blessed us with our daughters, Ava and Keira.  You will see the original website that we wrote for potential birth moms to see, and also the updates on the girls and my family.  Here is the link:  SmithAngels.com - enjoy your visit!

Here is my personal email address, if you have any personal/adoption questions or comments, I would most welcome hearing from you.

Warm regards to all, Barbie