By: Maria Genovezos, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
LINWOOD — Sabrina Thomas, an entrepreneur and a mom of 4, has created an intentional experience of hand-pouring your own candles at Oak & Main Candles.
The experience doesn’t begin with the class, but from the moment you walk through the doors.
Located in West Creek and Central Square Shopping Center in Linwood, Thomas offers a 90-minute class, with the choice of a luxury candle jar or two standard jars, fragrance oils. The candles are made with natural soy and coconut wax.
Thomas custom-designed both the Oak and Main Candles locations to provide a different atmosphere while maintaining brand consistency.
“What’s cool is that both locations have different jars and different fragrances,” Thomas said.
There is also a charm bar at the Linwood location, where you can create a custom charm bracelet or necklace.
The classes involve more than just the act of creating candles. Thomas and her staff aim to use the atmosphere and a welcoming approach to create an experience through human connection.
Board games are placed in the middle of the tables to encourage social bonding and relaxation while candles are drying.
“The way that I watch people laugh over tic-tac-toe, or the little games, it’s amazing, just to watch it happen,” Thomas said. “To know that I created that space for people to come together and authentically enjoy each other, with reason, and not to just be like, ‘Oh, I want to go buy a candle.’”
Her 12 years of experience in candle making enable her to choose the preferred fragrances to create a scent that can bring people back to a memory.
“I hear a lot of wows, and they close their eyes, and they go, ‘this smells like poppy,’” Thomas said. “When you sit down and watch people make their candles, they storytell with each other.”
Oak & Main Candles also hosts private events, including vendor events, baby showers, birthdays, bridal showers, and date nights.
People come together to enjoy the simplicity of creating a candle while simultaneously forming connections.
“I’d never thought that making these little wax melts in my kitchen, 800 square foot condo with 3 kids under 4, that this was going to turn into this,” Thomas said.
