BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

BALBOA ISLAND — Until last month, Stacey MacAndrew and Neil Roberts’ business was difficult to see on Marine Avenue. But it sure was easy to smell.

The married couple, who met online three years ago and live in Vista, opened the CandlEssence scented candle shop in mid-November after operating their business precariously on the street for more than a year. As MacAndrew and Roberts waited for a space to open on Balboa Island, they made and sold their candles in the backrooms of other sympathetic business operators.

The owners may not have had much visibility during that time, but whenever Roberts whipped up a new batch of handmade wax, a crowd amassed before long.

“Everybody for miles around could smell the candles when he was making them,” said Carol Fredrickson, a clerk at the nearby Martha’s Bookstore that housed the candle makers from June to November. “Everybody loved that fragrance.”

Finally, in November, a store on the island went out of business, and CandlEssence got a permanent home. The narrow shop at 319-A Marine Ave. features shelves full of candles, a wish book where customers can request specific scents, and a counter with bar stools where the owners make their craft in the open.

“I can’t see myself doing anything else again,” said Roberts, who worked in logistics for 16 years at Vancouver General Hospital before moving to California to marry MacAndrew. “This is just way too much fun.”

The store, whose prices range from $6.95 to more than $100, specializes in candles that burn for long periods of time. MacAndrew said her products contain high-grade wax, additives and thick wicks that cause the flames to last for more than 250 hours without finishing off the candle.

Long before she met her husband, MacAndrew had made and sold candles on her own, running the business on the side while working her real estate job at Coldwell Banker.

CandlEssence resides just a few doors down from Coldwell’s location on Balboa Island, and Roberts keeps shop while MacAndrew is out during the day.

“All of this came out of us meeting online and falling in love,” MacAndrew said.

The candles that line CandlEssence’s shelves feature an eclectic array of scents, including mango-papaya, pineapple-cilantro, lavender, gingerbread and hazelnut coffee. The owners order the scents from half a dozen distributors, but even still, they occasionally get one that stumps them.

“Spikenard,” Roberts said Thursday, perusing the wish book. “I’ve never heard of that, but somebody wants it.”

Location: 319-A Marine Ave., Balboa Island

Owners: Stacey MacAndrew and Neil Roberts

Specialty: Handmade scented candles

Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily

Contact: (949) 723-1788

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].