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Yankee Candle history
Yankee Candle company history timeline
"It all started in December 1969.
Christmas 1969 Sixteen-year-old Mike Kittredge, too broke to buy his mother a present, melts some crayons to create a homemade candle.
1971: Mike opens his first retail store and learns what customers want: scented candles for home fragrance; packaged for quality gift giving.
1973: Upon outgrowing the space available in his parents' house, Kittredge moves his candle-making operations to an old mill in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Friends and neighbours enjoyed my simple candles and continued to purchase them as swiftly as my family could drink quarts of milk and orange juice!By 1973 my hobby had turned into a one-man business.
Boles d'OlorBoles d'OlorExclusive in Ireland to Candlewarehouse! A family company based in Barcelona founded in 1977 by the master perfumer Eugeni Boix and his wife Helena Llebaria.
1979: Yankee Candle has 30 employees, has doubled its factory space in Holyoke and begins distributing its products nationally.
In 1983, after a decade of production at the Holyoke site, Kittredge's company recorded $1 million in sales.
1986: A second store is opened in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
1992: Our now famous Bavarian Christmas Village opens at our Flagship Store in South Deerfield.
At roughly the same time, the company opened its first store tailored exclusively for the Christmas season, a theme that would be expanded upon in 1993 when Yankee Candle opened a Bavarian Christmas Village.
The village saw its single largest expansion in 1993 with the addition of the Bavarian Village, a year-round Christmas section where frosty snowflakes fall from the ceiling every four minutes.
1994: Manufacturing moves to a facility in nearby Whately.
Kittredge ceded day-to-day control over Yankee Candle's operations to Parry in July 1996, naming him president.
The company's flagship South Deerfield store, originally a 2,000-square-foot shop, occupied 60,000 square feet by 1996, serving as the anchor of a retail chain on the verge of exponential growth.
1996: Annual sales pass $100 million.
Kittredge planned to open between 10 and 17 new stores in 1997, but, as he plotted the company's strategic development, he began to delegate greater responsibilities to Parry.
1997: Yankee Candle Wholesale Direct, our in-house sales and service department, is created to improve sales and service for our United States-based wholesale market.
Parry was named chief executive officer in November 1998, gaining control of Yankee Candle at a decisive juncture in the company's history.
1998: Yankee Candle enters into a partnership agreement with investment firm Forstmann Little & Co.
On the wholesale side, the company bolstered its overseas business by establishing a 27,000-square-foot distribution center in Bristol, England, which began operating in January 1999.
Yankee Candle's retail chain drew considerably more attention from industry observers, as the company used the capital from the Forstmann Little investment and from its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in July 1999, which yielded $97 million in proceeds.
The company entered ten new states in 1999, opening 40 stores primarily in shopping malls.
Yankee Candle's expansion in 1999 represented the model of growth for the company's immediate future.
Parry announced plans for opening 40 additional stores in 2000, a target number the company anticipated reaching each year for the next several years.
There are now over 2000 stockists, retailers, outlets, concessions and their own online store offering signature fragrances to customers across the UK, Europe and Asia.
In 2002, they opened their first UK retail store and have not stopped since.
Joma Jewellery was established in 2008 to create and celebrate timeless, beautiful jewellery that can be collected, worn and loved, again and again.
Kringle Candle, based in nearby Bernardston, was founded in 2009.
Historically, the company usually closes a few underperforming locations in January, but Wuerthele said the stores had their strongest quarter since 2012 this past summer.
Yankee Candle moved into their current, expanded facility and European headquarters in 2012.
The company said it sees great potential for further growth in France and Germany, and opened a manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic in 2016 to keep up with demand.
Locally, the company has also continued to expand its manufacturing operations, recently adding a line for Chesapeake Bay Candle Co., which Newell Brands acquired in 2017.
Sadly, Mike Kittredge passed away in July 2019 – just over 50 years since he created his first candle.
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Yankee Candle competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body Central | 1972 | $692.2M | 3,000 | - |
| Spirit Halloween | 1983 | $1.1B | 5,000 | 2,042 |
| Hilo Hattie | 1963 | $580,000 | 10 | - |
| Janie and Jack | 2005 | $15.1B | 117,000 | 57 |
| Charming Charlie | 2004 | $387.3M | 1,622 | - |
| Sanrio | 1976 | $576.3M | 759 | - |
| Burlington Brands | 1981 | $1.6M | 15 | - |
| Johnston & Murphy | 1850 | $278.7M | 25 | 5 |
| Ecko Unltd | 1993 | $21.0M | 350 | - |
| Manufacturing | - | $440.0M | 2,245 | 2 |
Yankee Candle history FAQs
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Yankee Candle may also be known as or be related to The Yankee Candle Company Inc, The Yankee Candle Company, Inc., Yankee Candle and Yankee Candle Company.