08/14/2026
If you haven't already heard the rumors, you soon will, because they're swirling away! So Cliff and I are writing you tonight to share the REAL story behind our brick & mortar presence closing. Ours isn't a story about a business that failed.
We had a thriving, growing business.
In 2023, we were approached with an opportunity to take the next logical step and purchase a local business that we believed could become something really special. We knew we would need investors, so I spent the next eight months personally putting together a business plan while negotiations continued.
We believed in the opportunity. We believed in our business. And we believed we could build something even bigger for Bartlesville and beyond. We even shared it with you all.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find anyone locally willing to invest. We were told, in one way or another, that the location wasn't in town and that we weren't from here. So we reached out to friends on the West Coast who believed in us and in what we were building. We found our investors.
Everything was moving forward.
When we updated the realtor that our investors wanted to move the closing from November to January, the realtor told us she would speak with the owner. Five minutes later, she called back. The property was being relisted. And just like that, the deal was over. But unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the story.
People had feelings about what happened. Rumors began. Those rumors continued. Stories were told and retold, and whether they were true or not, they had an impact. People came into the shop proclaiming we had no business owning a business in this town.
Our business felt that impact.
By the following April, sales were so impacted that we had reached a point where we had no choice but to downsize into a location with a lower rent, hoping that our loyal customers would follow us. We moved only about two miles. We hoped the rumors would stop. We hoped our customers would find us. We hoped sales would recover. They didn't.
It is tough to pay rent when the sales aren't there. We've been using our retirement funds to cover where sales didn't. Eventually, we reached the point where continuing to carry a retail location simply wasn't financially viable.
Long story short - after a lot of thought, a lot of prayer, and many conversations, we've made the decision to close our retail location and Artisan Mercantile.
Not because we stopped believing in what we built. Not because we stopped loving our customers. And not because we didn't work hard enough. We simply can't continue to spend money to keep a storefront open that isn't being shopped.
But don't be mislead - this isn't the end of Crafty Candle Shoppe. In fact, we're taking the business back to where it began. Home.
Our products will continue to be available locally on the shelves at wonderful businesses including Gan's Mall & Auction House and Early Bird Market here in town, as well as The Wandering Magpie in Owasso.
And our classes aren't going away either. They're simply going to look a little different. We'll continue teaching classes from our dining room, in a smaller, more relaxed atmosphere. A little more intimate. A little more personal. And honestly, probably a lot more fun.
The retail chapter is closing. But the business isn't. We started this from home - We're going home again.
To everyone who supported us, shopped with us, took a class, told a friend, shared a post, bought a candle, or simply walked through our doors and became part of our story... Thank you.
You mattered. You still matter.
And we're not done making things yet. Not even close!
