Giving new life to old products is the mantra of Custom Candle Co.
The recently opened shop at 25 Depot Plaza in Bedford Hills features hand-poured, organic candles with custom-made scents placed inside glass bottles, from Dom P̩rignon to StewartӪs Root Beer, that have been repurposed by using a glass cutter to remove the bottleӪs neck. Even the buildingӪs 3,200-square-foot interior is created almost entirely of reclaimed lumber, from its handcrafted counters and shelves to the barn door separating the storefront from the office and manufacturing space in the rear.
Marcie Manfredonia, along with her son Anthony Desideri, opened the brick-and-mortar expansion of the online candle store in March. The business was born from Manfredonia”™s need to find a long-lasting candle that would satisfy a family with allergies and asthma issues, coupled with the idea of recycling decorative and eye-catching bottles. Manfredonia rents four storage units to supplement the business, each filled to the brim with bottles she and her family have collected, along with those picked up from area restaurants.
The company, which started as an e-commerce-only business in 2015, also utilizes bottles that hold a special significance to their owners, as was the case for a recent customer whose father had left her bottles of aged scotch.
“I said, ”˜Crack it open, drink it, and I”™ll cut the bottle for you,”™” Manfredonia recalled. “And they said, ”˜That”™s a great idea, because it”™s just sitting there.”™”
Manfredonia said that some customers will splurge on a nice bottle of wine, and instead of simply throwing that bottle away, her process can give the glass a new purpose.
“People really relate to certain drinks,” Custom Candle employee Gabrielle Ferrari said, and the store aims to draw on that connection. Along with candles, Manfredonia also turns bottles into ashtrays, makeup holders and candy dishes.
But the shop is not just about bottles and candles. Manfredonia also manufactures and sells wax melts, salt licks for horses, bath bombs, goat milk soaps, bath salts, lotions and scrubs.
The store features other candle and soap brands alongside Manfredonia”™s own creations. Manfredonia said the other lines she carries in her store entice new business, bringing in customers who can then sample and, hopefully, purchase Custom Candle”™s own products.
Despite the store”™s location opposite the train station in Bedford Hills, Manfredonia said it “really can”™t survive on just people walking in” due to the low amount of foot traffic in the area, and Custom Candle continues to receive the majority of its business through its website.
Custom-made candle prices range from $5.99 for a small tin candle to $32.99 for a larger glass pillar. Recycled bottle candles can cost anywhere from $15 to $500 depending on the bottle”™s size and rarity.
“They may be a little more pricey, but we know what”™s in them,” Manfredonia said of her candles, which are created using all-natural soy ingredients. This, she says, makes Bedford Hills an excellent location.
“Up here, everybody”™s so educated on what they burn,” she said. “A lot of other people don”™t care, but most people up here really do.”
She chose the Depot Plaza site largely for its convenience factor. The new store is directly across the Harlem Line tracks from the other business she owns and operates, Nationwide Maintenance & General Contracting, one she started nearly 30 years ago as a single parent raising her four sons.
“I was divorced. I was on welfare,” she said. “I didn”™t know what I was going to do.”
Using the money she earned by selling her car, along with the experience she gained working for a friend”™s power washing company, Manfredonia launched Nationwide Maintenance, a business that has now grown to offer an array of services, including landscaping, general maintenance, construction and cleaning services.
“It was a long haul,” she said of her history with the company, one that was “really challenging.”
In 2009, Nationwide Maintenance went through a “pretty rough transition with the economy and keeping up with the times,” which forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Following a reorganization, it was able to pull through the financial crisis. Manfredonia hopes to transfer that sense of perseverance into her new venture. The roughly $70,000 buildout for the store was self-financed and “cost me a lot more than I expected.”
But her sights are already set on possible expansions, with plans to add two additional brick-and-mortar locations in Bronxville and one inside a mall in Connecticut. Other expansion ideas include converting the location adjacent to Custom Candle”™s storefront into a manufacturing area, while keeping a showroom at its present spot.
The products are currently sold in four retail stores in Mount Kisco and Bedford Hills, and Manfredonia is in talks to place her offerings inside Whole Foods stores.
And don”™t worry about not being able to find your favorite brand”™s bottle in the store. Manfredonia has a solution for that.
“If I don”™t have it, guess what we”™re drinking this weekend?”
