Candle shop burns brightly in new spot

PERKINS TWP. — No longer an isolated operation, Island Sham Farmhouse recently doubled its footprint. Business owner Julia Nickell gave great thought to expanding her candle-making shop for quite some time and landed on opening her second store, this one being located within the Sandusky Mall. Her downtown Sandusky location, on East Market Street, remains open as well. She expressed confidence in the mall: both in speaking with its management team and seeing many other businesses recently popping up there. "The stars aligned," said Nickell, adding how the mall attracts a broad, diverse audience. And, during the winter months, she's excited to welcome new customers who might not have yet discovered her downtown shop. Island Sham Farmhouse specializes in selling hand-poured candles made from scratch using non-toxic materials. It also offers a line of complementary products. Island's mall location carries the same products found at its downtown shop. At the mall, it'll also provide candle-making opportunities. "We are calling our downtown store kind of like the upscale version of our candle-making," Nickell said. Regardless of the product or location, Nickell wanted customers to know about her business mission. "It's not just our products we are selling: We're selling a piece of ourselves," Nickell said. "Everybody makes everything from their heart. Everybody started with a hobby that's turned into something more.'' Plus the mall, as opposed to her downtown location, allows for greater expansion opportunities for additional products, Nickell said. "Our vendors — like Sunshine Farms, Witchy Vibes, Mama's Macramé and Sue's Colors– they have the ability to have way more product in here," Nickell said. "Before we only had a handful of products for them. Now we're having their full lineups." Nickell encourages people to visit either her existing downtown or new mall location, emphasizing gratefulness for being able to fulfill a dream by opening two Sandusky-area stores within a two-year time frame. People can visit the mall location from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Her downtown location, meanwhile, has scaled back, operating on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the winter season. Without her dedicated, growing staff as well as her "faithful and supporting customers," — her "Sham fam" — expanding to a second spot wouldn't be possible, she said. Nickell extended a heartfelt appreciation to all of her believers for helping her create a "loving family atmosphere." "We're not focusing on a sale. We're focusing on the relationship." Nickell said. "We want to hear about your family. We want to hear about what's going on in your life. Something that I've always instilled in my team is remembering that somebody could be coming in here and having the worst day ever, and you just talking with them could make it better. It's so much more than selling products: It's relationships." What's in a name Regarding the name Island Sham Farmhouse: • The part "island" — It refers to Catawba Island, where Nickell lived for 12 years and started the business. • The part "sham" — It refers to Catawba Island not truly being an island anymore. • The part "farmhouse" — It refers to, at the time when creating the business, Nickell living in a home some called a farmhouse, but it really wasn't, hence another "sham."