Cleveland Candle Company opening on Coventry
The Cleveland Candle Company, a business that is currently located in Mentor, plans to open a second store at the end of April on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights. In addition to selling a large variety of candles, the store also invites customers to create their own candles, choosing the scents, size and shape.
David Gin, co-founder and president of the company, owns the store along with Linda Turner and Tanya Bratten. Gin, who is 30 years old, was born in Chicago and spent many of his younger years in Indiana. He attended Indiana Wesleyan University, where he majored in finance and marketing. In 2011, he created a company called Real Frût to produce gourmet fruit juices. The company won the Best Juice in Cleveland award from Cleveland Magazine in 2013.
Gin's girlfriend, Emily Siebert, liked burning candles, so they thought they would try to make their own. “We gathered the ingredients and started working in our kitchen,” said Gin, who lives in Painesville Township. “We had a lot of fun, and within about four months [I] opened [the] store. Frankly, I never thought I would be in the candle business.”
The Mentor store opened last May. For several months, Gin and his partners had thought about opening another store. “Originally, we thought about opening one in Avon or Rocky River,” he said. Then, Jenny Goe, one of the owners of the In the 216 store on Coventry Road, told Gin about the Coventry neighborhood. The two knew each other because Gin sold some of the jewelry Goe makes at his Mentor store.
Goe put him in touch with Angela Hetrick, the head of the Coventry Village Special Improvement District, who told him about the retail space where Coventry Cats used to be located, at 1810 Coventry Road.
“We came over to Coventry in January, and we realized it was the perfect place for us,” Gin said. “One of the things we try to do is foster community. When people come in to make a candle, they usually stay in the neighborhood while it’s being made and go out to eat or browse other stores. I think this will be perfect for Coventry.”
Tanya Bratten, one of Gin's business partners, will run the Coventry store.
All of the shop's candles are made from 100 percent soy wax, with cotton-paper wicks. Customers who want to make their own candles come into the store and select the scents they want. They can choose just one or they can make a “signature” blend by combining various scents.
“We’re always adding new scents,” Gin said. “We usually add about three or four a month.” The store carries more than 100 scents and fragrances.
Customers then select both the size and shape of the candle container. The next step is blending the oils they have selected. They pour the oils into the container and mix them with the custom soy-wax blend. Finally, they wait one to two hours while the candles are produced. In addition to making the candles, customers can also create their own candle labels.
The store also will hold classes several nights a month, teaching about candle making with local artists, making lip balm, and various other topics. In addition, people will be able to rent the space for parties and other events.
Gin said he expects the Coventry store to open on April 29, with a grand opening event in June.
James Henke
James Henke, a Cleveland Heights resident, was a writer and editor at Rolling Stone magazine for 15 years. He is the author of several books, including biographies of Jim Morrison, John Lennon and Bob Marley. He is on the board of FutureHeights, and is co-chair of the Heights Observer Advisory Committee.