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Veteran Candle Maker Moves Into Retail


RECOGNIZING THAT candles are a hot retail trend, SFI Fra- grances is moving strongly into the retail channel. After 20 years selling candles to fund-raising groups, the company now has sev- eral regional retailers as partners, and is pushing into a national distribution model. According to president, Ron Hart, the Kentucky based candle maker has a fi rm foothold with independent retail- ers in one corner of the country. “We’re selling to the Hallmark stores in the Southeast region,” he says. “We’re not selling any majors. We are in several indepen-


dent gift stores and fl orists.” The coast to coast strategy is


a new initiative. “We really just made the move in the direction of spreading this effort nationally,” says Hart. SFI met with profes- sional sales representatives from a national fi rm at the summer ASD show in Las Vegas, and SFI is working with them to get their product into stores across Amer- ica. “We now have a rep group, SMR (Supermarket Representa- tives), that’s nationwide, based out of New York,” explains Hart. “It’s a new thing. They have 11 reps covering the United States, the Caribbean, and Canada.”


That means opportunities


for retailers. “Now’s the time for people to make a connection with us,” says Hart, “because we’re in a stage of early development going to retail, and we’re good at what we do.” But a national distribution plan


is useless without great products to distribute, and SFI does not dis- appoint. The company has three new products designed to attract attention and generate excitement at retail. The “Odor Blaster” line offers candles designed to elimi- nate offensive scents. SFI has two varieties, a “Pet Odor Elimina-


continued on page 60 58 November 2010 is Now INDEPENDENTRETAILER


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