Cork & Candles scent bar expands to University City, its third location in the Philly area

Cork & Candles, an "experiential scent bar," is expanding to a new location in University City next week. 

The new store opens Wednesday, July 24, at 3421 Walnut St. near University of Pennsylvania's campus, where it will run BYOB candle-making workshops, host private events and sell specialty candles. The latest addition will join Cork & Candles' other two locations in Center City (1315 Walnut St.) and King of Prussia (255 Main St.). 

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"We like to invest in and support our local communities, and we're bringing something to the University City area that will offer students and faculty and working professionals in that part of Philly an opportunity to do something where they can connect with friends and spend quality time with peers," said Kenny Straub, a West Chester native who co-owns Cork & Candles.

The University City store fills a 2,465 square-foot space that formerly housed the United By Blue cafe, which closed last year. There will be a retail section of the company's feature candles (they once put out a "Sexy Batman" candle that "embodies the essence of Jason Kelce"), a bar area where guests will be seated for candle-making experiences, and an open-floor area that can hold larger parties. Straub describes the decor as having a "rustic, luxurious Napa feel to it." The new location will be able to hold about 70 guests at a time.

"It's a bigger space," Straub said. "And the space itself is pretty much right on Penn's campus, so sort of right in the heart of the college there, which is really nice.This is our third location. Each new store is slightly different from the one before it, as we sort of learn from our previous openings and improve upon it."

Cork & Candles offers two different candle-making experiences. During the 90-minute "Signature Experience," guests are guided by experts in making two 8-ounce candles. The process involves personalizing their own scent combinations by choosing from more than 60 fragrance oils in the Cork & Candles scent library. Then, guests pour and stir the hot wax, and allow it to cool. They can take home their creations at the end of the session. 

"That's going to feel more like a date night," Straub said of the Signature Experience. "You go out to a restaurant, you get seated with your girlfriends or with your partner or your date at your own table, the server comes and takes care of you. That's what that experience looks like. You get your own table, you get your own server, and we guide you through every step of the process."

Then there is the "Novelty Experience," which is a class that people can sign up for to learn how to make a different quirky candle creation each month. Some previous examples include candles that look like margaritas, succulents and martinis.

"We call them 'candle of the month' classes because we have a new one every month," Straub said. "So we've got 12 in rotation, and each month, something new is offered. But that's more like a class you'd come in and you'd be with a group of other people, and our instructor will lead you through how to make the cereal bowl candle, or how to make a candle that looks like a strawberry shortcake or one that looks like a banana split."

People can also book private events, as Cork & Candles locations have hosted corporate outings, birthday parties and showers, according to Straub. Customers are permitted to bring their own beer, wine or champagne to Cork & Candles. 

While there are some differences from store-to-store — flatbreads and charcuterie boards are only available at the KOP location — Straub said they are taking steps to streamline the Cork & Candles experience after starting to franchise the business. The first franchisee-owned location, which they sold in March, is slated to open in September at 65 Cricket Ave. in Ardmore.

"We're looking to standardize more than we're looking to differentiate from location to location," Straub said. "And as you franchise, you want it to be more uniform, so that any guest that goes into any store gets a similar experience with that. ... (Franchising) is a big part of our vision and passion, to grow this out so that we can really support other folks that want to get into business for themselves."

Cork & Candles is owned by Straub and his father, Dave. Dave grew up learning candle-making from his own father, who died when Dave was 23. Dave would load up the candles he made into a wagon and sell them door-to-door when he was just 12 years old. He went on to own several businesses, including Bruster's Ice Cream stores, while Kenny has spent much of his own career working in private equity firms. In 2021, the father-and-son duo decided to team up and launch a business that brought together their interests and talents, and also brought their customers closer together. 

"Coming out of COVID, we liked the idea of building a business that brought people together," Kenny said. "The tagline is, 'where friends gather,' and we wanted to build something around that and the family history of candle-making.

"And so we just continued to explore that more and more, and we landed on a candle-making experience. ... It was creative. It tied to the family. It was something we could do together and something that we understood. But we also wanted to build it in a way that would be able to work with others and scale it out through the franchising. So that was sort of part of the vision from the very beginning."

Cork & Candles in University City will be open Monday through Thursday from 1-8 p.m., Friday from 1-10 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.