The Candle Pour to open inside Oxford Exchange
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 20, 2023

Visitors to Tampa's Oxford Exchange will soon be able to make their own custom-blend candles on their way to brunch and book signings.

The Candle Pour is taking over the 500-square-foot space that Warby Parker has occupied since 2016. Warby Parker, which has since opened full-size locations in Hyde Park Village and International Plaza, will close July 29. The Candle Pour will open in late August.

Warby Parker's Oxford Exchange location was initially launched as a short-term pop-up but was so successful that it lasted seven and a half years, said Jess Anderson, business development director for Oxford Commons, the hospitality company that owns Oxford Exchange, Stovall House, Predalina and The Library. vThe location "proved to be an amazing partnership and case study for the viability of Tampa’s retail market," Anderson said.

Oxford Commons approached The Candle Pour about the location, said Misty Akers, who owns The Candle Pour with her husband, Dennis Akers. The Oxford Exchange location of The Candle Pour will not take reservations, and Akers said it will be a more boutique experience than the Hyde Park shop. It will have more readymade candles available as well as candle accessories.

There will also be candle vessels that are exclusive to the Oxford Exchange location, Akers said. She said it will also drive traffic to the Hyde Park store and a location in St. Petersburg that opens July 26. When The Candle Pour did pop-ups at Armature Works in 2019, Akers said 70% of the people who visited their booth had never heard of their business, which opened in Hyde Park Village in 2019.

"The exposure alone is huge for us," Akers said.

The 500-square-foot location is much smaller than the other two Candle Pour locations. Hyde Park Village is 1,600 square feet, and the St. Pete store is 2,000 square feet. The startup costs for the Oxford Exchange location are about "a quarter" of the startup costs of the standalone locations, Akers said.

"Really, we’re just bringing a single bar, millwork and custom pieces for the retail display," she said.

Beyond exposure, the Oxford Exchange location is also a pilot of sorts of The Candle Pour, Akers said.

"It's a good test for cities that have places with a similar setup to Oxford Exchange," she said.