Ridgefield Park candle factory lights up the business
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Record
Ridgefield Park
STAFF PHOTOS BY ELIZABETH LARA
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Candles moving through an assembly line at Star Candle Co. in Ridgefield Park.
Buy this photoWhat they make: Private label, licensed and house brand candles. M&M candles are a new line, and their religious candle line is their most popular product.
How they're made: Wax and glass jars come from U.S. and overseas manufacturers. The different types of wax are blended together and sent out in temperature-controlled lines. Wicks are glued to the bottom of the jars, and the jars are sent to assembly lines where computers calculate the appropriate number of jars and combination of fragrance and color. A machine fills the jars with the colored wax, and the candles cool as they move down the line where machines label and box the finished product.
Owner: Stanley Gurewitsch took over the company in the 1960s from his father.
Founded: 1938 by Gurewitsch's father in the basement of their home. "He pawned my mother's diamond ring to be able to open the business," Gurewitsch said. "He got it back a year or so later. He started making kosher soap and was able to make some money." The company has relocated three times, twice to factories in Brooklyn and then to Ridgefield Park in 2006.
Employees: About 200
Clients: Private-label companies, supermarkets such as ShopRite, major dollar chain stores, Kmart and Walmart
Production: 300,000 candles per day
Competitors: MVP Group based in South Carolina
Secret to success: "We're able to respond quickly to changes in the marketplace," Gurewitsch says. "Today the scented candle vanilla is your hot flavor; tomorrow, it could be black cherry. A week later, we could be in the market where, if you go to China, it will take six months for that wheel to turn."
Why New Jersey? "I'm a domestic manufacturer," Gurewitsch says. "I've got family. That's why we stay in the metropolitan area. Coming to New Jersey was an easy move for us. It didn't turn out to be as economically beneficial as staying in New York. We are not in the Urban Enterprise Zone, which would entitle us to tremendous tax breaks, real estate taxes, etc. Bottom line is, we're going to have to start to look out of the state."
— Rebecca Olles
Made in North Jersey appears Tuesdays this summer.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/126157538_Ridgefield_Park_candle_factory_lights_up_the_business.html
