Wick’d Candles

by Kristen May

It was a typical Wednesday morning. After just exploring Playa Bowls, my sister questioned whether we could head over to this new business in the Warehouse District, Evil Queen. I was enticed. The moment I stepped through the door, I was immediately transported to a different dimension. Delicioussmelling candles lined the walls, and cute little trinkets were spattered across the counters. I was immediately drawn to a candle labeled “Fall” that had an aura of coffee and crisp leaves. Instinctively picking it up, I held it up to my nose, breathing in the scent that would drive me to buy the candle. I then decided to look around the store more and uncover all of the hidden secrets lying within the nooks and crannies. As I left the store, I pondered what brought this secret treasure trove to Traverse City.

Evil Queen’s origins began in a small apartment in Los Angeles in 2016. Owner Ida-Sofia Koivuniemi remembers the process that started it all. “It was just a random idea that I had to make funny candles, [since] at the time, no one was doing that,” Koivuniemi recounts. However, Los Angeles is a drastically different environment than Traverse City, and the transition took some time. Whether it’s the amount of people, the size of the city, or the overall atmosphere, Traverse City certainly takes some getting used to. “There’s a lot more of a community here,” Koivuniemi observes, which helps with meeting customers and developing connections.

There are so many special aspects to the Evil Queen. The fun candles, the unique stickers, the stacks of jars lining the wall, all of it adds to an atmosphere like no other. However, this secret haven was not always beautiful; it took some time and a lot of effort. “The renovations were a bit of a challenge….We had to get permits for the demo….I just didn’t really know the process,” Koivuniemi recalls. The company also offers candle-making classes, which provide a unique opportunity for the public to get a taste of what goes into making candles. “I wanted to [dedicate the store’s] back area [to] candle-making classes to give people the chance to make their own candles [and] do something fun in Traverse,” she explains. Evil Queen sells a variety of candles, ranging from crisp apple scents to vanilla and lavender. Koivuniemi loves all of her products, especially “Stolen Hoodie, because I like the more masculine kind of scents….All the candles are my babies; I love them all in their own way.” The company’s creative candles have even been reviewed by several major lifestyle news outlets including Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar, who remarked, “Sometimes we feel like nobody understands us, and then other times we spot a hilariously accurate candle that was basically made for our dark souls.”

Since starting the company in Los Angeles, Koivuniemi has been considering additional regional and national expansions of the store. “I’ve always thought about opening one back in Los Angeles where I started because that would be cool, or even downstate Michigan or something like Ann Arbor,” she remarks.

Furthermore, there are many working parts that go into ensuring the success of Evil Queen. The warehouse is where all of the work goes into making the candles and figuring out how to get them to their buyers. “[I’m responsible for] manag[ing] the staff and all of the prep and production of the candles,” Liz Caluory, the Manager of Evil Queen, describes. “[A]longside those tasks, I’m responsible for shipping and receiving orders, along with ordering all the supplies for the warehouse.” Caluory really enjoys being a part of the Evil Queen family, working in the crucial warehouse. “What I like about Evil Queen is that you’re a part of it from start to finish, and you really get to see the work that you put in at the end,” she reflects.

While there are lots of businesses that have picked up the trend of creating playful candles, Evil Queen is the first small business of its kind in Traverse City. Now that they have finally opened their first brick-and-mortar location, locals can finally enjoy the nationally recognized scents that have put the company on the map. //