| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Number of locations | 550+ |
| Owner(s) | Madison Dearborn Partners |
| Website | www.yankeecandle.com |
The Yankee Candle Company is the largest U.S. manufacturer of scented candles.[1] The company is located in South Deerfield, Massachusetts.
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Yankee Candle Company was started in South Hadley, Massachusetts when Michael Kittredge, originally from Holyoke, Massachusetts created his first scented candle from melted crayons, as a gift for his mother.[2] Neighbors began expressing interest in buying his creations, and Kittredge began producing them in larger quantities. The company itself was founded with help from Donald MacIver and Susan Obremski, who were high school friends with Kittredge. MacIver helped fund the start-up business with earnings from his part-time job. Candle production grew considerably after Obremski's father devised a "heated room", which enabled cost-saving liquid wax deliveries at the first factory site in Holyoke. Obremski's invention of a turntable taper wheel allowed production to double, while at the same time decreasing the need for more labor hours. In 1975, she managed the first Yankee Candle Shop located where the Village Commons, South Hadley now stands.
The company slowly expanded and moved to South Deerfield in 1983.
After a cancer scare in 1993, Kittredge started handing the company over to a friend and employee.[3] In 1998, he sold the company to New York-based private equity company Forstmann Little for $500 million.[3] Forstmann took the company public in 1999,[4] and in 2001, hired Craig Rydin as a CEO. Rydin launched a major advertising campaign and the line was picked up by mass retailers Linens-N-Things and Bed, Bath and Beyond, pushing sales to their highest levels yet. Kittredge remains the company's chairman emeritus.
During the summer of 2006, Yankee Candle purchased[5] Illuminations, a Petaluma, California-based, multi-channel retailer of high quality candles and home accessories. Although the two companies were similar, the names were separated, with Illuminations being aimed at a different demographic.[5] The Illuminations brand and web store were phased out in early 2009.
On February 6, 2007, the company was acquired by the private equity group of Madison Dearborn Partners LLC for approximately $1.6 billion.[6]
Yankee Candle's flagship store is located on Routes 5, 10, and 116 in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. It features all available Yankee Candles as well as kitchen and home accessories, New England crafts, gifts and collectibles, a toy shop, picnic grounds and a "Bavarian Christmas Village" filled with decorated Christmas trees and a toy train that runs through to Santa's Workshop, where animated elves and an 'assembly line' for wooden vehicles surround Santa Claus's desk. Visitors can dip their own candles in a specially equipped area, make wax molds of their hands, or create their own unique candle. There is also a candle making museum. The shop's award-winning Chandler's Tavern serves American cuisine and fine wines.
A second flagship store was opened in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 2005. At 10,000 square feet (930 m2), it is about 1/3 the size of the South Deerfield store.
Yankee Candle Company markets an array of products, including candles of various scents and sizes, scented wax tarts, candle accessories, lipbalm, votive candles (Samplers), votive candle holders, tart warmers, jar toppers (for use with the Housewarmer line of candles), reed diffusers, Electric Home Fragrance units (scented wall plug-ins), car scents, room sprays, hand sanitizers, and more.