P.F. Candle’s minimalist hand-stamped amber jars quickly attracted attention in the interior design space, and since then, have been sold in Urban Outfitters, Whole Foods, Nordstrom, CB2, and more than 3000 independent shops worldwide. After doing a pop-up store in Highland Park in 2018, Kristen and Thomas realized they missed the whole in-store experience, where people were in-person smelling candles and conversing.
P.F Candle now has two standalone stores in Echo Park and Culver City, CA, as well as a new store in San Francisco, which has yet to open its doors because of the Pandemic, but does “take-out” service. In those physical stores they sell candles, incense, as well as cozy home staples such as blankets. Even though many brick and mortar stores have been slowly reopening their doors to the public, foot traffic is still down across most of the country.
As a result, P.F Candle experimented with a variety of options to get their scents in front of customers, such as using tealights, but they found out it bogged down their production. The company currently uses scent cards, similar to the perfume samples found in the pages of a fashion magazine. However, the scent cards are actually much costly, so they’re currently looking for an environmentally-friendly option for online customers.
Pumphrey tries to recreate the feeling of specific places, such as a hike in the Redwood mountains into her products. Since scent is most strongly connected to memories, they become a vessel that sets the tone of a day or evening, according to Pumphrey. She explained the driving force behind the connection: “So you have all of these little molecules that make up a fragrance oil, but you also have an emotional impact that's there.
And while it’s been seemingly fun for this California-based candle company, there’s also a very serious commitment ensuring that they use their platform and company to remain steadfast in fighting for causes that matter. Their employee donation match program raised over $9,000 which was given to organizations fighting racial injustice, as well as a company donation north of $10,000 for Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP.
Trust me, I once was a candle.