By Nate Abraham Jr.
BUSINESS OF THE WEEK
WNM Essentials began as a family project sparked by a desire to create something meaningful after military retirement, and it has grown into a Columbia business focused on fragrance, customization, and hands-on experiences. The company, founded by Jamison and Shyla Ganzy, opened its doors on November 4, 2023, and now offers candles, diffusers, fragrance products, classes, and private events in Columbia’s Sparkleberry area.
Jamison and Shyla Ganzy said the business grew out of their post-military life and their love of creating calming, personalized spaces. “Candle-making became my own personal therapy since being in the military and deploying and stuff like that,” Jamison said, adding that the goal was to create “a calm and soothing place” for customers as well.
The couple said their youngest child helped inspire the idea.
“Our youngest child, who is now 19 and in college, was in middle school at the time,” said Shyla. “We were just looking for something for her to be a kidpreneur and get her involved in things. So we experimented with candle making and lip gloss.”
What started as a way to involve their child in a kid-friendly business experiment eventually turned into a much bigger operation.
“I did not realize how much went into making candles at the time,” Shyla recalled. “But after I made this large purchase for something we’re going to get into, Covid hit. We had all this extra free time, so we dove into it. We ended up with a full-blown candle lab at the house.”
“My philosophy is that if you’re going to do something, do it 100 percent,” said Jamison.
With a commitment to creating something unique, the couple spent a lot of time experimenting in their “candle lab.”
“We were just blending and making stuff,” Jamison recalled.
“A lot of people don’t realize that candle-making is therapy, and it was a calm and soothing place for him,” Shyla said.
Eventually, the couple developed a unique line of candles and fragrances. They also realized that their customized fragrances can be infused into a wide variety of other products – items such as personalized perfumes, soap, body oils, room scents and more.
They also realized that they could no longer operate out of their garage. So on November 4, 2023, they opened WNM Essentials on Sparkleberry Lane Extension in northeast Columbia.
WNM Essentials offers candles, wax melts, room sprays, reed diffusers, automated diffusers, car diffusers, perfumes, colognes, lotions, body oils, roll-on oils, soaps, and candle warmers. (Diffusers are devices designed to add a scent to a room.) The business also sells its own custom-made products and continues to develop new items, while keeping a focus on fragrance customization.
The shop’s signature feature is its fragrance bar and custom scent program. Customers can create a scent from scratch, save it on file, and later have it recreated in other products.
“We pride ourselves on customization,” Shyla says, “because once anyone comes to any one of our classes, we put their recipes on file. You can contact us any time in the future, and we can recreate that fragrance for you in whatever product you like. If we don’t have it, we can make it for you.”
Beyond retail sales, WNM Essentials offers candle-making classes, soap-making classes, private parties, and themed date-night events. Regular open classes are offered Thursday through Saturday at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., with Wednesday walk-in sessions for returning customers. Private events can be booked at other times by arrangement.
The business also hosts special experiences such as “Wine & Dine” date nights, seasonal celebrations, and collaborations with other local businesses.
“Wine & Dine is like a date night,” Shyla said. “We’ll bring in a private chef, and they’ll have customized meals and things of that nature. We do special events for Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, where we may have a private chef and do a buffet style meal. We might do brunch.”
“We just recently started doing a collaboration with another business owner called Rhythm and Hues,” said Jamison. Basically, the business owner comes in, sets up her DJ booth and MCs, sings, and plays music throughout the whole session. It’s totally different and a really nice ambiance. We have another one coming up on August 15 & 16.”
In addition, the WNM Essentials facility is available for private events, such as private or corporate candle and fragrance classes, anniversaries, date nights or intimate events with a private chef and music. They can also host corporate and team-building events.
“We just try to create different experiences for people to enjoy themselves, and maybe create memories with loved ones that are coming into town to visit,” Shyla added. “We want you to not only just have this experience once, but different unique experiences when you come back.”
Jamison and Shyla said they aim to give guests “experiences and memories” and described their customer service approach as similar to the hospitality they enjoy when traveling.
“We really pride ourselves in customer service,” Jamison said.
WNM Essentials is located at 1055 Sparkleberry Ln. Ext., Ste. M, Columbia, SC 29223. Customers can book classes online at the company’s website, wnmessentials.com, or through its reservation page. You can also call the Ganzys at 803-451-0569 to book private parties and special events.