Photo courtesy of Jennifer Pate.
Jennifer Pate opened Illuminated, a candle shop, in mid-June.
Jennifer Pate sees opportunity in Mountain Brook. Her new candle bar, Illuminated, opened in mid-June.
As she took a break from painting to be interviewed in the weeks prior to opening, Pate’s face was speckled with white paint, blowback from where she’d been painting above her head. But she didn’t mind.
“I believe in sweat equity,” she said. “You have to put in the work on a business like this in order to make it successful.”
Illuminated focuses on the luxury candle market, with products that range from $18 for smaller craft candles all the way to around $600 for showpiece diffusers.
“The luxury candle market is the fastest growing segment of the candle market right now, and the candle market as a whole is a billion-dollar industry,” Pate said. “By nature, I’m an entrepreneur. My high is coming up with new ideas, and as I was looking around the Birmingham area, I haven’t found a store that is focused on the luxury candle market.”
So Pate decided to change that.
“I’m going to focus on exclusivity, luxury and sophistication,” Pate said. “Now, none of those words have to mean expensive. I want to have price points that are affordable. With some of the higher-end pieces, you have to look at those things like home decor or home furnishings. I look at this as ‘attainable luxury’ for my customers.”
The candles sold at Illuminated feature natural ingredients, as well as soy and coconut waxes, and will use 100 percent cotton wicks.
The 51-year-old is a native of Mississippi. She moved to the Birmingham area four years ago when she married her husband.
“Birmingham is a very receptive community,” she said. “We love it. It’s so welcoming. You can really find your place here.”
With a background in pharmaceutical sales, Pate believes the jump into business ownership will be a smooth one. It’s a move she’s made before. As publisher of a niche real estate magazine in her native Mississippi, Pate did something similar to what she’s doing now: finding a market and filling a need.
“Scents evoke memories,” Pate said. “That’s really what I’m selling — emotion and memory. Scent can take you back more than any other of your senses. It can intensify your feelings and evoke happy memories.”
For example, Pate associates the scent of wisteria with her father. Even though he has passed away, the smell brings back a soft wave of nostalgia and warmth, a way to remain connected to a past that grows ever further away.
And, of course, luxury candles can make a wonderful gift.
“One of the nice things about this shop is that there will be pieces here that will feel like home decor or home furnishings,” Pate said. “But you can also use these candles as an appropriate gift — you can gift your friends a memory. That’s something that’s very difficult to do.”
Illuminated is located at 2415 Montevallo Road in Mountain Brook. Find the store online at acandlebar.com.
