At first it would seem like a smooth transition: a candle shop moves into the former site of another candle shop.
That was the case when GKB Candle slid into the Shoppes at Grand Prairie spot formerly occupied by Yankee Candle.
Of course, things are not quite that simple in reality. Yankee Candle had a loyal base in Peoria, and when visitors came to Grand Prairie for the national brand, they found something different.
“We’ve had quite a few people come in looking for Yankee Candle,” said GKB Candle owner Kourtney Greene. “When they found out I was a small business, they turned right around and walked out the door. They didn’t even give me a chance.”
Greene’s frustrations with the lack of foot traffic at her new location forced her to close the store this month after just three months open in Grand Prairie. GKB moved in June from a previous location in Junction City, much to his frustration.
Greene’s difficult business tenure in Peoria taught him many lessons, some harder than others.
From Nashville to Peoria
GKB didn’t start in Peoria. Living in Nashville in 2020, Greene began selling beauty products online as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The idea to start selling scented candles didn’t come until family members had a chance to try them out.
“I started making candles as a therapeutic thing for myself,” Greene said. “I let friends and family members smell them and try them and everyone said, ‘You should sell them.’ I took the time to learn how to make a candle because there is a science behind it.”
After moving to Peoria, she began selling her candles at local markets when the COVID restrictions ended in 2021. She often sold her candles at markets in central Illinois, which was enough to convince her to open own candle shop, which would not only sell candles, but teach people how to make their own.
“My business is primarily that you come in and make a candle,” Greene said. “I do events on the weekends – themed events usually, like Harry Potter events or fun things for girls’ nights, singles’ nights or whatever. They come, I make a candle, I will have a cook come (and) they would receive. and the drinks, that would be their experience every weekend.”
Greene opened in Junction City in 2022, but the road to opening her store — and keeping it open — proved more difficult than anticipated.
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Trouble at the new Peoria location
When opening in Junction City, Greene’s store was originally next to Preckshot Compounding Pharmacy. It was later moved by the mall’s owners to a new location, just below the old Peoria Public Schools District 150 administrative office.
A week before the store was scheduled to open, a pipe burst. As a result, she almost had to start from scratch, as 85% of the store was affected by water damage.
Junction City moved her to a new suite, closer to many of the bars and restaurants that call the mall home. Unfortunately, it came equipped with the original HVAC system installed when the mall opened in 1959. After two years in Junction City, she decided it was time to move on.
“My HVAC went out and Junction City said I would have to pay $10,000 to get a new one,” Greene said. “We didn’t have $10,000 as a small business.”
A Junction City official declined to comment for this story.
All this came against the backdrop of unpleasant interactions with other entrepreneurs there. In one instance, she said a fellow store owner couldn’t believe the kind of business she was getting and didn’t like what Greene told her about how she managed to be successful.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Greene said. “One lady said, ‘How do you get all these customers to your events?’ I told him, ‘This is what I do,’ and he didn’t like that.”
Greene also felt that fellow business owners and customers tend to gravitate toward stores with established brands in the Peoria area. Having only arrived in Peoria in 2020, Greene said it’s been difficult to cultivate a brand for herself with so many other options for shoppers.
“When you’re out of town and you don’t have a solid audience before you open your business in Peoria, it’s really hard to get the support you need,” Greene said. “My events sold out at first because I was using Facebook ads, but what I’ve noticed here is that once people try something, they don’t try again. We’ve had a lot of repeat customers, but it’s not enough to keep the lights on.”
“I refuse to give up”:Peoria business moves to new location after unexpected challenges
Fights at the Shoppes of Grand Prairie
Her move to Grand Prairie happened immediately when her HVAC problems in Junction City came up, along with plans to open a second location. Greene said she restructured her business with Grand Prairie to ensure she could move there without having to deal with a second general tax.
Unfortunately, because people expected Yankee Candle and they had a small business, she didn’t see the kind of foot traffic she wanted out of the business.
“Nobody came out hard,” Greene said. “People coming in, because we were in the old Yankee Candle, it was always, ‘Is this Yankee Candle?’ and I’m like, “No, but I’m a small business.” “Oh, I want Yankee Candle.” I went through it at least 20 times a day.”
Before she closed her store in Grand Prairie, she realized that despite the fact that many people claim to support small businesses, they prefer familiarity more than anything else.
“She’s very classy,” Greene said. “If you’re not in the group where people know who you really are, the support isn’t there.”
More:Three businesses are joining The Shoppes at Grand Prairie in Peoria
Advice for those taking the leap
Fortunately, Greene won’t stop selling her candles and other products. It’s just going back to what made it so successful in the first place – online sales in the first place. She feels she got more money doing this before opening her storefront.
“I was making really good money,” Greene said. “We had customers from all over the United States and even served people from Canada. My experience was better, just from a financial point of view.”
However, she doesn’t want her story and experiences to discourage other entrepreneurs, especially people of color like her, from setting up shop in Peoria. Her biggest recommendation is for people to have a good amount of capital available when they open up so that some of the bigger issues she’s faced aren’t as much of a problem.
“If you’re opening a brick and mortar, make sure you have enough savings to get you through the slow months,” Greene said. “What I’ve learned doing this over the years that I have, it gets slower in the summer here for a lot of businesses. It’s getting slower because people are on vacation. I noticed in June, July, that I barely saw anyone, anyone. he used to come to my events. After school starts, the Christmas months kick in, but once Christmas comes around, it slows down again.
“If you’re going to open something, whether it’s retail or grocery, just making sure you have enough capital set aside to pay your rent or buy supplies or build inventory, that’s the most important thing”.
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