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information
Address:
25 Greenfield Rd,
South Deerfield, MA 1373
(directions)
Hours:
Open
Daily
Jan. 1 to July 31
9:30 am - 6 pm
Aug.1 - Nov.1
to Dec.31
9:30 am - 8 pm
Contact:
(877)636-7707
On the
Web:
yankeecandle.com
home
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Makes
scents to go to Yankee Candle
by
Elizabeth Joyce-Brandt
On a particularly gray and boring February
afternoon, a couple of girlfriends and I decided to check out the Yankee
Candle Flagship Store. We
have lived just ten minutes from the famous candle shop for over a
year and had never seen it. We
had heard that it was the largest candle store in the country and
thought, "candles are fun, why not go check it out?"
We piled into the car and headed down Route 116.
We found that the store was much more than just
candles. The store is a massive red-and-white, farmhouse-style building,
which also has an adjoining building, that houses an employee gym and
once-a-month candle clearance sales. It is surrounded by a white picket
fence and green lawns that beg to be picnicked on.
We entered the store and were greeted by a potpourri of scents,
over 160, in fact, mingling in the air.
My friends and I joked about candle names and tried to
find the grossest scents to shove in each other’s faces.
My least favorite was melon, which smells
exactly like melons and gives me a headache.
We explored the multi-room building and were
surprised by the rest of the creative rooms.
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My favorite room is the
Black Forest
where the walls were created to look like a German mountain range, their
texture jutting out from the flat walls. A miniature toy train runs
around the top of the room as if making the journey to the
North Pole through the mountains. A
soft faux snow falls on the mountains.One of the flagship store's claims to fame
is the gorgeous
Bavarian
Christmas
Village. The room is
decorated to look like the journey to the North Pole.
A 25-foot fake pine tree is decorated festively with
brightly colored bulbs and ornaments. There are replicas of
Bavarian home fronts that sit under the ceiling painted blue
evoking a midnight sky, complete with blinking lights.
The
Black Forest
leads to Santa’s Enchanted Toy Workshop, where toy elves sing
and encourage children to make a wish into a large
color-changing orb on the ceiling.
Santa’s house is there, too, and children line up to
have their picture taken with the man himself.
The room that connects to Santa’s Village
is the Build-a-Bear room. My friends and I explored all of the flat-bellied un-stuffed animals
that lie on the shelves, waiting to be filled with soft cotton
and taken home to be loved. We created a green frog dressed in
Army fatigues for one of my friend’s boyfriends who is in the
Army.
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Mike
Kittredge |
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Yankee
Candle was started in 1969 by 16-year-old Mike Kittredge, after
creating a candle as a gift for his mother.
In 1972, Kittredge rented retail space in
South Hadley
to sell scented candles. In
1974, he moved his young business from his parent's garage and
basement to an old paper mill. In 1983, Kittredge moved to South Deerfield, Mass.
The Flagship store was opened in 1993, seven years after
Kittredge was honored as the Massachusetts Small Businessman of
the Year.
The
store features an award winning restaurant, the Chandlers
Restaurant, as well as The Candlewick Café and the Candle
Mountain Lodge. Visitors have the option of visiting the Candle
Making Museum where they can learn how candles were made in the
olden days and take their newfound knowledge to the Dip-Your-Own
candles area and create a candle all their own.
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We were amazed
by how much thought goes into the preparation of the
build-a-bears from selecting a heart for the animal to reciting
a pledge to love the bear and celebrate each day.
We were like little kids picking up every adorable
accessory, from the boxer shorts covered in red hearts to the
nurse’s uniform, all of which had holes in the back for the
bear's tail.
These are just some of the delightful rooms
in the Yankee Flagship store.
There are more candle accessories than can be imagined
ranging from votive holders, tiny lampshades, perfume sprays,
towels, ornaments and dishware.
Two hours after we arrived
at the Flagship Store, my girlfriends and I piled into the car.
Some of us had candles, a few had build-a-bears, and we all had
empty wallets. The
Flagship Store is a fun mix of shopping, dining and
entertainment, but it doesn’t come cheap.
Candles and bears range in prices from $16 to $30, and
the restaurants are pricey.
Despite the empty wallets, we left with a good feeling.
The store had entertained us for hours on a very boring, wintry
February afternoon. |
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This website was created by the students of Journalism 375 at the University of Massachusetts 2005
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