How it all began...

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and clearly I have passed that along to my children, Brooklyn(18) and Jack

(16). They have started many small-scale businesses over the years, from lemonade stands to making skateboards, so when they came to me with the idea that we should make candles of course I said yes. Looking back, I suppose I was running under the assumption that we would make a few candles for grandmas and friends and leave it at that.

We came up with a name - KINDMOOSE Candle Company, which we felt embodied everything good about being Canadian.

The feel and experience of cottage life has always been something we enjoyed, and the kindness of our neighbours, community, and Canadians in general all contributed to our name choice. We wanted something with a rustic feel that would bring people joy, comfort and light, something that was natural and nontoxic that would look pretty and burn cleanly.

Finally, we wanted to be able to manufacture each candle in a made-to-order fashion, labelling each candle with custom sayings and allowing customers to choose their preferred fragrance.

Once we were ready to go, the kids combined their money and starting to make candles in our basement. We sourced fragrances, jars, wicks and boxes and before I knew it, I had a wine cellar full of candles and orders coming in from outside of our immediate circle. We started up our website at www.kindmoose.ca as well as our Shopify and Etsy stores, and our business seemed to take off overnight. As a result, we quickly outgrew our basement location and renovated our garage to become our Kindmoose Workshop. The kids, who were back to their everyday routines ended up taking a more casual role and I took over running the business on a day-to-day basis. We now have over 380 plus custom labels and 30 fragrances and some days we are processing more than 60 orders a day. In addition to that, our products are now available in over 30 retail locations and our wholesale business continues to grow.

As we sit here planning for a busy fall, I reflect upon the past 18 months and feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I feel grateful for the time we have spent showing our kids that with hard work and effort anything is possible. I am thankful that despite starting a business in the middle of a global pandemic, we have been fortunate enough to achieve unexpected success. Most of all, we will be forever grateful to our family, friends and the local community who have been so supportive of our venture. To those who continue to come to us when they need gifts for their own family, friends and clients, or simply just to purchase for themselves, we want you to know that each one was made with love and care. We are committed to continuing to provide vou with quality candle products customized specifically for YOU!

Watch out for our new fall scents and sayings, as well as some new and exciting product offerings coming soon!

Until next time, be KIND!