For Colina Bruce, owner of Noir Lux Candle Co. in Seattle, Washington, things are busy. “We’re super booked with holiday parties,” said Bruce, who hosts candle-pouring sessions at her ‘candle bar’ in downtown Seattle.

Bruce started the business in her kitchen during the pandemic. “I decided to kind of teach myself how to make candles,” she said. “And that led into launching a whole e-commerce site, virtual candle-making classes. And that got my wheels turning about what it might look like for me to have my own space.”

In February, she opened her brick-and-mortar location. And one of her biggest initial challenges? Dealing with shipping costs.

“We have a lot of heavy things, like a 50 pound box of wax,” said Bruce. “Our vessels are glass or ceramics. Often shipping is really crazy, so we try to find local vendors as much as we can. And then when we can’t, we try to order in bulk.”

This December will mark her first holiday season in the physical store, but Bruce is feeling optimistic. “I hope that we see a lot of folks who come in and they’re making candles,” she said. “And then we’d love to see candles being shipped out across the country. We have a little map of places our candles have gone, so we’d love to like fill in those areas that you know we haven’t been to yet.”