Perseverance leads to candle success in small town

When I was a kid my mom made candles for our homemade Advent wreaths right before Christmas. She spent hours melting the wax and developing a color suitable for the candles to prepare for Jesus's coming. Then she would pour the wax into orange juice cardboard containers with a white string she kept in place with a pencil. She only made eight candles per year - four for our home wreath and four for the church wreath. From helping her make the candles, I realize this is a time consuming process and there is a fine art in doing it right.

Of course I have a huge appreciation for the heavenly candles from a company called Sugar Shack Country Candles. The company is committed to producing the best quality, best smelling and longest lasting candles available. Their candles are made by hand out of their facility in Edgar Nebraska (town of 539 people). Cyndie Schoof and Bridget Kenley started the company in 1994.

According to Cyndie, "The most difficult thing in starting our business was that it was a joke to almost everyone we ran it by. I would have to tell anyone starting their own business that perseverance would be the main quality you need. If your goals and dreams are within reason, continue to strive to attain them. Do not let others try to tell you any differently."
It took Sugar Shack three and a half years to "even begin to make any money but we knew we had a great product. Quality is everything to us and our employees. The whole process was far from easy. We almost threw in the towel several times."

In addition to candles, they offer potpourri and refresher oils, air fresheners, aromatherapy soy blend candles, soap cakes, candle wire holders, tarts, and old fashioned canisters.

Sugar Shack has future plans to come up with new fragrances and a more upscale candle line.