It took devotion — and nerve — for Pat Trosdahl to leave her 20-year career with the federal government and start a small business of her own.
"You have to devote every waking moment to the business," she said. "People don't realize all the work that goes into it."
But by the time she is ready to retire, in the next 10 years, Trosdahl said she hopes her small shop will be working for her.
"I decided I wanted to build a business so that when I get to retirement age that I would have a substantial income coming in," she said.
Pat Trosdahl and her husband Kerry opened the Scent Emporium originally about two and a half years ago in a 500-square-foot space in Stones River Mall. The home fragrance shop has since moved and grown into a 1,500-square-foot store in a strip center on Cason Lane.
The Scent Emporium has what Kerry Trosdahl, an independent carpenter, said is the largest selection of fragrance oils and incense in Middle Tennessee. The shop also carries the three best-selling candles in the country: Yankee, Woodwick and Beanpod. Among the other top brands sold in the store include Trapp, Rhapsody, Bistro and Isola Luce.
The Tosdahls said they try to make their store appealing to everyone by selling everything from traditional scented candles, fragrance lamps and high-quality incense to pet-themed purses, body soap and authentic Native American crafts.
"It is a good place for men to come if they need to suck up," Kerry Trosdahl said, laughing.
Fragrance lamps, which range in price from about $20 to $200, from such brands as Lampe Berger and Lampe Avenue are increasingly popular. The decorative lamps fueled by fragrance oils purify and then scent the air. The fragrance oil is burned through a catalytic combustion technology and produces no flame or smoke.
The Scent Emporium carries more soy candles than it does traditional paraffin candles. The Trosdahls said soy candles have a clean burning wax that is non-toxic to pregnant women and small children. Paraffin candles are petroleum-based and produce carcinogens and soot when burned.
Down South Candles, made 100 percent from soy wax by a small Lagrange, Ga.-based company, is one of the couple's favorite candle brands.
A fateful trip to the flea market got the Trosdahls into the candle business about five years ago. They inquired about candles made from granulated candle wax after passing a pleasant-smelling booth where they were being sold.
The Trosdahls soon became exclusive vendors of the candles in Tennessee and started selling them almost every weekend in flea markets in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.
They eventually got to where they couldn't carry all of their merchandise from flea market to flea market.
So the Trosdahls decided to take the next step and open their own store with products upgraded from their flea market days.
Pat Trosdahl said she was ready for a change. She no longer wanted to work for someone else. She had worked for 19 1/2 years for the Internal Revenue Service as a collections manager.
"I got so tired of the everyday going to work and talking with people about their taxes," she said.
Pat Trosdahl quit her job six months short of receiving her 20-year retirement benefits.
It was a huge risk. Most shops don't make it long term.
"That is why if you don't take these risks you will never make it," she said.
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
Scent Emporium
517C Cason Lane
417-1476
Hours of Operation
Monday-Thursday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Friday-Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday noon-6 p.m.
|
Email
Print
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo!