A Bolton business has moved onto pastures new, with a larger shop in a better location for the firm.
Country Candles has just moved into the Market Place Shopping Centre, on the upper mall.
The shop had previously occupied premises on Corporation Street, but owner Sarah Murphy, aged 51, wanted a larger store for more space.
She said: “I’ve been doing candles for a while, I make all the candles and wax melts.
“It was basically like a hobby that took off and I decided that just before Christmas 2019 I fancied having a little shop, as people would come round the house wanting to smell the candles.”
Sarah opened the original shop in Summer 2020 and found that business was good to the point where this year she decided to move to larger premises.
She said: “Where the shop was, people weren’t going that way as much. I’ve already seen more new customers than I would have there.
“The previous shop was two small shops turned into one while this one is bigger – I wanted more space for people to browse.”
The move of shops was exciting, if stressful, for Sarah.
She added: “I closed that shop on Saturday, June 25 and opened this one on Tuesday, June 28.
“It’s been really exciting, but very trying. I closed the shop at 4pm on the Saturday, worked until midnight, then worked all day Sunday until about 11pm and the same on Monday.
“It was just me and my partner doing it. All the shelving was in the old shop and that was really heavy.
“There was a lot of laughing, a lot of tears, not too much falling out but a lot of bruises and cuts.”
The shop had an official grand opening combined with celebrating the second anniversary of the shop on Saturday, June 9, which was attended by Bolton mayor Akhtar Zaman, although Sarah was initially sceptical when she saw how nice the weather was.
Sarah said: “My initial thought was ‘oh no, nobody is going to come’ but people wanted to support the shop, which was amazing.
“Old customers who have been with me from the beginning came to support, and new customers as well.
“People absolutely love the shop, it is something different. All my candles are homemade but then everything else I feel is what you can’t get on the high street.”
She added: “It is important for Bolton because Bolton people do like coming into a nice shop and I think there’s a lot of shops closed in Bolton and it does need a bit of a boost.
“Everybody that comes in is all ‘I wish you every success, we need more shops like this in town’ and that it’s like a shop you’d see on holiday, like a boutique type shop.”
Sarah mentioned the possibility of holding candle making workshops in the future.
She said: “In the evening I’d open the shop up and do candle workshops, where people can learn and take a candle home that they’ve made.”
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