Wrangell is home to many locally-owned businesses. One of the community's newest businesses, Lover Bear Candle Co., is really thriving in the locals-supporting-locals environment.
"My husband and I were getting married last September, and we wanted to do something personalized ... for all 150 of our wedding guests," said Anna Angerman, one of the company founders. "We wanted to make a party favor that people would enjoy."
Anna and her then-fiancé, Cody Angerman, were batting around ideas for gifts for people coming to their wedding. They decided, eventually, that making personal candles for their guests would be a great idea. So, she said, they got a kit off of Amazon and got to candle making.
As it turned out, they both really enjoyed making candles and decided to keep it going. Lover Bear Candle Co. officially launched last November, Anna said, where they showcased their products at a Christmas craft fair. Their candles were so popular they almost sold out.
One of the initial challenges of building their candle company was coming up with a name. They wanted something Alaska themed, she said, but nothing they were coming up with sounded quite right.
"We had 10 different names and none of them felt right," Anna said.
While considering ideas for company names, Anna said one day she jokingly called her husband "lover bear," and almost immediately she said she knew it was a perfect fit for their company name.
After that craft fair, the candle company started expanding locally. Their first wholesale order was for 50 candles to stock in Angerman's Inc., on Front Street. After that, they started getting interest from other stores in town.
"We couldn't just only sell at Christmas markets," Anna said.
The candles have proven to be very popular. Anna said that, at the time of this interview, they were working on filling their fifth order for Groundswell, Wrangell's local flower shop. Each of the previous four orders flew off the shelves and Groundswell completely sold out, she said. As both she and her husband work full time jobs, she said keeping up with orders has been a bit of a challenge. Another challenge was finding space to work in their home.
"I've completely taken over the dining room table," Anna said.
In another move to expand the company, Lover Bear Candle Co. recently launched a website. Anna said they were getting a lot of interested potential customers from outside of Wrangell, and they wanted to make an easy way for locals and people out of town to place their orders. So, Anna said, she designed and launched http://www.loverbearcandle.com. They have already had close to 40 orders in the past month, she said.
All of their candles are made with soy and coconut wax, Anna said, with either cotton or crackling wooden wicks. Anna also said that they try to evoke a feeling of Southeast Alaska with the scents they put in their candles. One of their most popular candles is the "Stikine River," she said, and they have just come out with a new "Petroglyph Beach" scented candle.
More information about Lover Bear Candle Co. can be found on their website. They can also be found on Facebook or Instagram under "loverbearcandleco."
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