A new gothic-inspired candle and skincare business has opened its doors in Sneinton Avenues. Wolf Wytch Apothecary picked the perfect time to open - Halloween weekend.
Founder Lauren Wolf, 35, of Bakersfield, has a background in cosmetics and skincare but this is her first retail store. She got the idea for the business after developing natural skincare products to use when she had her son. She decided to move into candles after realising they were easier and faster to make.
"The main medium I work with is wax so I sell candles and melts but they are very unusual. They have their own aesthetic and I design everything myself. When I had my son, I was making balms because I wanted things that were natural to put on his skin. I was mainly working with essential oils so I made a lot of body care, and skincare and didn't want to use any chemicals," she explained.
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"When I started working with wax, I realised that you didn't have to go through all the testing with these products whcih you have to do for skin care. You need to do a lot of safety testing as it's going on someone's skin so the formulas need to be correct. With candles, it was a lot quicker and I realised I liked it more so now it's my main medium but I still do skincare too."
Setting up in Sneinton Avenues has been a natural move for the company which has been growing steadily online since 2016. Lauren recognised the potential of the area to build a community of independent shops.
"I've lived in Nottingham twice and the first time I was here, I walked around Sneinton thinking how cool this could be. None of the units were open then but I thought this could be such a cool little community if there was more retail like small shops that people could have businesses in," she said.
"I saw some of the shops here like Bone Arrow so when I went in, I really wanted one of these units as the next step for my business. Everyone knows each other down here and I'm the newbie here. Things like Blend really help with footfall as well as the market, it can be a really buzzing community."
Lauren's background in retail and make-up artistry management has come in handy when it comes to setting up shop. The store is a beautifully curated space that showcases her candles, wax melts and bath bombs. The candles all come with a variety of different crystals and herbs.
"I've managed shops before as I've been a make-up artist for twelve years so I've managed big accounts but I've never had my own shop before. I'm still finding my feet so I'm transferring stock from my workshop onto shelves here. It's taken a while because I have a young child, I still work from home doing online sales so I'm spread quite thin but I will find my groove with this."
It can be a difficult time for people to set up shop with the cost of living crisis and energy bills increasing. Lauren has noticed an increase in her ingredients but she is determined to keep going.
"I've not seen a drop in sales yet but I have seen the price of my ingredients go through the roof. A box of wax used to cost me £90 but now it is £130 so you need to make tough decisions," she said.
"I've not put my prices up but it might come to that as you need to make a profit as a business and stay viable. The price of everything has increased even things like stickers or even wicks. That has go somewhere but I'm trying to stay positive. I'm still going to continue regardless because we have put so much time into this, it's my second baby."
When it comes to developing the shop, Lauren is hoping the future will mean bigger premises where she can have more stock. She has already been inundated with offers from local craftspeople hoping she can stock their designs.
"I want to get the shelves stocked first but maybe later on I would love a bigger unit. I would like to double in size or even open a second unit next year. Some of the businesses have done really well down here so they have opened a second unit. I would also love to employ someone in the future too," she said.
This weekend saw a soft launch in terms fo the shop opening where customers were able to come down and see the shop. It has taken months of work to get the unit ready to open but customers have literally gasped when they have seen the unusual, yet stunning, inside.
"I feel so humbled by what people were saying when they came in and gasped. I didn't realise people were here to see me but to hear them say such nice things about my products was amazing. Obviously, you have reviews online and I have about 3000 on Etsy but when you are face to face with someone who is saying such lovely things, you really take it on board because they are taking the time to say these things in real life," she shared.
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