Shopping on Queen Street West : Yummi Candles (This Location Now Closed)
UPDATE : This Queen Street West location of Yummi Candles has closed permanently, however, there is still a store in downtown Toronto, at the Distillery District.
———————-
One afternoon last month, while Nick and I were walking along Queen Street West, I interrupted our conversation to ask if he had seen what I had. Was that a shop that was selling candles and nothing else, that we’d just passed?
He hadn’t noticed and we kept on walking, but my mind was on that shop.
Then, a week or so after that walk, I was going through the myriad of brochures, flyers and pamphlets we’d recently received, that were piled on the little table in our entryway. As I sifted through it, mostly to make sure there wasn’t a letter/card/bill stuck within the stack before I tossed it all in the recycling bin, a unique direct marketing mailing caught my eye. It was an 8 x 11 piece of printed card-stock from a shop called Yummi Candles.
So there was, in fact, a new candles-only store in the neighbourhood. And they were offering local residents a free small scented candle! And the piece of mail gave the recipient the opportunity to get crafty — it was designed to turn into a little box, into which the free candle would fit perfectly!
I read it a couple of times, trying to figure out what the catch was. But there didn’t appear to be one.
All I had to do was bring the flyer to the shop and pick out the scent I wanted from a choice of 30. That was the only difficult part of the experience … choosing which one to have. They all smelled so good.
The scents are colour coded by category : woody, oriental, aromatic, fresh, floral, citrus or fruity. I selected one of the fresh scents, Bay Leaf and Cardamom. (It’s sitting right in front of me right now as I type, unlit, and it smells fantastic.)
Family owned and operated, Yummi Candles has been in the business for almost 40 years. According to their website, they “strive to produce the safest and best performing products by using the highest quality waxes and 100% cotton lead-free wicks.” I was told at the shop that the candles were all made from pure beeswax, soy wax or food-grade paraffin or a combination of those. (Personally, I prefer to avoid candles with paraffin, sticking with beeswax or vegetable/soy candles, and natural scents. Yummi offers 6-pack boxes of votives that suit these needs.)
↑ Pure Beeswax choices — Some of those tapers are on my wish-list. Follow-up : I don’t think they carry beeswax candles anymore. ↑
↑ They have four scents designed with men in mind — Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Clean Cut, Mr. Smooth Talker, and Mr. 5 o’clock Shadow ↑
Here is the one I got …
Of course, I had to put the little box together …
If you can’t make it to the Yummi Candles shop at 654 Queen Street West (north side at Palmerston/Tucumseth, next to Romni Wools), they offer their full line at their website.
And if you live in the neighbourhood, check that pile of junk-mail before you put it in recycling, because you might have a piece in there that definitely is not junk!
Thanks for checking out my post,
xo loulou
