Chestnut Hill Candle Company - Chester, WV

In 2001 husband and wife team Dave and Missy started making candles mainly as a hobby they could do together. They went to a local craft shop and bought some supplies and got to work in their kitchen. They had to be the worst candles ever! They wouldn't even burn! With no idea what they were doing, they started doing some reading and found some better suppliers. About a year later they came up with their own unique soy wax blend of soy and cottonseed and finally made some candles that were worth giving to family and friends.

When their friends and family started asking for more they wondered if they could make a business out of this. Dave was skeptical but  Missy thought they might as well give it a try. Missy showed one to her friend's mother and told her they made them and were thinking of selling them. She asked if she could buy one. When my Dave came home she told him she sold a candle today and he said, "That's great, honey," and brushed it off.

They only had a few scents at that time so Missy put one of each in a basket, tied some gingham on the basket handle and sent it with her mother to her work and to a business next door with 15 or so employees (Including her friends mother). The next day Dave came home and she told him she had $ 300.00 in orders. After he picked his jaw up off the floor, they went to work filling the orders. They started sending baskets with family and friends wherever they could and before they knew it, they were in business.

In 2004 they launched their website and a year later a small retail store. They now specialize in fundraising for schools and organizations.