• "This Factory Pleases Olfactory Sensibilities"
• "Couple's Dream Led to World of Flowers"
• "Local Florist Represents the United States at Italy Summit"

This Factory Pleases Olfactory Sensibilities

By Karyn D. Collins
Staff Writer for the Asbury Park Press
June 19, 2003

You smell the Candle Factory Retail Outlet before you actually see it.

Even on days when the outlet's doors aren't propped open as they are today, an intoxicating mixture of scents fills the air in this quiet Beachwood neighborhood.

Once inside the dark-paneled store, located at 1130 Ship Avenue, candle lovers will find themselves in a candle nirvana - a world where every imaginable type and scent of candle is available.

Owners Nancy and Frank Seitz pride themselves on carrying anything and everything having to do with candles.

For 35 year, long before the current wave of candlemania, the Seitzes have been lighting up the world, shipping candles and related products to customers all over the world.

"We're the flower power children of the '60s. For us, candles were always in," Nancy says. "We actually started out in the flower business and evolved into the candles."

The Seitzes, who are both 60, started their business selling mostly fresh and plastic flowers and just a few candles. The candles were such a hit that they shifted their inventory to candles and related accessories, along with a smattering of items one can use to make gift baskets - silk flowers, ribbons and trim.

They even have a factory in another (secret, they say) location that makes their own line of candles - votives and fat, pillar-style foliating candles, the sides of which fall gently outward as the candle burns.

"We're the only company left in the United States that makes the foliating pillar candles," Frank says. "There have been a lot of changes in this industry. We're one of the oldest candle makers in the state, and there are only two companies left. "Our success in the candle business is that we stick to the basics."

Not that the Seitzes are tradition-bound. The line of soybean-based candles and wax they carry reflects the latest trend to move away from traditional, petroleum-based candles.

Adds Nancy: "We stay on top of what's new, what's in. And the novelty candles are nice, but the basics are still our biggest sellers."

Visitors to the Candle Factory are treated to an everchanging display geared toward the current season. Seaside and spring themed-items dominate the store's front room right now. But in the store's basement, shoppers can find items by the dozens for other times of the year.

Though springtime is considered their slow season, the weekday afternoon is busy with a steady stream of customers coming in and telephones ringing. Wedding shoppers, like the two women who drove here from Brooklyn, are a frequent sight, employees say.

The Seitzes, who live just next door from the store, said they're proud their shop has helped put Beachwood on the map, so to speak.

"People go on vacation to all sorts of places," Frank says. "And invariably they run into someone who has heard of little Beachwood because of the Candle Factory.

Couple's Dream Led to World of Candles

by Mark E. Ruquet
Staff Writer for the Ocean County Observer
September 20, 1999

"Set the Mood!" reads a sale brochure from the Candle Factory Retail Outlet. "The soft glow and aroma of candles provides the perfect environment for creating happy memories, soothing your soul, or adding a touch of romance," it says.

Take a moment to tour their store at Ship Avenue and Pinewald Road and you will soon realize Nancy and Frank Seitz's brochure is not a sales gimmick but an invitation to take pleasure in a world of fragrance, color and warmth.

Walking through the door, your first impression will be the beautiful arrangements of candles and silk flowers covering the room. Behind the first room is a second filled with all types and sizes of candles imaginable, from long tapered candles to jar and pillar candles. Downstairs is a craft designer's dream of glassware, candleholders and silk planters.

It is a Mom and Pop store, the Seitzes say, and they are happy to keep it that way. "At some point you have to make a decision how big do you want to be," said Frank. "We feel a lot better being a small company."

"Our goal was to support our family," said Nancy. "No Mom and Pop business will make you rich but it will fill you with satisfaction."

And it appears they are satisfied.

Thirty years ago, after a couple of tours of duty in Vietnam, Frank came home and started a floral business. Since age 8, Frank had worked at his aunt and uncle's floral shop in Philadelphia and fell in love with the floral business and wanted to continue. Nancy was a librarian.

They were both 26, with an 8-month-old baby, and sunk every dime they had into the business. "We did not eat that night," said Nancy of the day they opened. "We had no idea what to expect," said Frank.

Their store opened in the Dutch Town Shopping Village in Lakewood concentrating on fresh floral and Christmas arrangements. At the time candles were a limited item.

They grossed $25,000 their first year, Nancy said. "It was very tough," she said.Along the way, the floral end of the business gave way to candles. Twelve years later the couple decided to take a very successful business and move it to a piece of land near the home they had purchased in Beachwood so they would not have far to go to work. They would become an integral part of their community.

To their relief, their customers followed and the business continued to prosper and grow.

"We did not lose a single sale," said Frank. People from Lakewood still come in here today," Nancy said.

Today, Nancy takes care of the books and the retail while Frank deals with wholesalers and receiving. They both do the buying.

There are 11 part-time employees, many of whom have worked at the store for between 12 and 15 year. "It takes a good employer to keep people," said Frank. "You work with them and later in life they work with you."

"Having a small business is like having a baby," said Nancy. "You nurture it and put back into it. You bring other into it. People come in and bring their own special talents.

"From the beginning, the couple said, the one commodity they concentrated on providing to their customer was service. Their aim was, and continues to be, to provide designs and accessories to their customers.

There is more than candles and arrangements to be purchased at the Candle Factory. There's knowledge, from learning how to burn a candle properly to making candles and artificial arrangements yourself.

"You do have to educate a person in how to burn candles," said Nancy, adding they offer demonstrations and craft classes at the store.

While the products they sell are discounted, Frank said they have never sacrificed quality.

"There is plenty of competition and when the demand is high the quality goes down," said Frank. "Our quality has never changed.

"Frank said a large percentage of their candles are made in New Jersey and the quality of the State's candlemakers remains very high.

To understand the quality, said Frank, take a mass market candle and one of their candles. The mass market candle will be much lighter and when lit, will only burn a few hours. A good candle, he said, will burn for hours on end.

After 30 years, the two still share an undiminished enthusiasm for their business, which has put food on the table and helped raise two children, Lorinda, who is a vice president in a medical business and Frank G. Seitz III, who is an attorney in Toms River.

When asked if the business will be passed on in the family, Nancy said neither has shown an interest. "We would like to think they would at some point," said Nancy. "We followed our dream. We can't expect their dream to be our dream."

Frank and Nancy Seitz were two of more than 100 international delegates to attend the 2000 World Flower Council (WFC) Summit recently held in Rome, Italy.Representing the United States, Frank and Nancy, Beachwood, NJ, attended a special international floral design show. More than 18 designers from around the world presented floral arrangements representative of emerging design trends throughout the world.

In addition to the presentation by the international designers, delegates from each country reported on the latest business trends in their country. "By attending the World Flower Council Summit, Frank and Nancy networked with some of the world's finest floral designers, including Els Hazenberg, AAF, AIFD, WFC delegate from the Netherlands, and Poo Chesdmethee, WFC delegate from Thailand." said Dean White, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, WFC international chairperson. "Now Frank and Nancy's customers will benefit from the design ideas they received at the Italy Summit."WFC hosts an international summit each year. WFC's mission is to further the cause of world peace through the beauty of flowers and the sharing of knowledge among the people who have chosen the floral industry as their profession.

The World Flower Council, Ltd., and American Floral Services, Inc., (AFS), sponsor the summits. AFS is a supplier total business solutions, a business partner and a trusted friend to the floral industry. Founded in Oklahoma City in 1970, AFS is the largest independent flowers-by-wire service in the world and an educational leader to the floral industry. AFS has a membership of over 24,000 AFS florists in the United States and over 50,000 AFS affiliates worldwide. News and information about AFS are available at www.afs.com.