Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Northern Lights Moves to a New Level


WELLSVILLE: Have you heard that Andy and Tina Glanzman sold their company, Northern Lights Candles, to George Duke, Chairman of Zippo? Glanzmans are excited, even energized, about the changes that they expect to range from satisfying to surprising and they see a future with positive changes impacting not just their lives but also the lives of their employees, present and future.

In his office, reminiscing about how it started, Andy talked of a formative experience:  watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965. Andy didn’t just sing along with the show or hold someone’s hand. He saw his future standing there so sold his 10 speed bike turning that cash into a 1963 Fender bass then taught himself to play it and began writing songs. He wanted to pursue music though he admits it might have been because of all those cute, screaming girls. That episode of the Sullivan Show had a lot of screaming.

In 1971 Andy graduated from Calhoun High School on Long Island and later that year discovered Allegany County. His friend was invited to a party in Alfred and asked Andy to ride along with him. He was a city boy out for a new experience in a cow dotted landscape. The cows were noteworthy as was the landscape but what really mattered was meeting Tina at that party.

In 1973 Andy moved to Allegany County and spent some hungry times while performing regularly for tips at the Fassett House Hotel on weekends. He tried a couple of jobs in the area. One was working at a pheasant farm in Andover where the task was trimming beaks. Trimming is a benign word for the operation so Andy escaped from that job. The other job was loading Christmas Trees at Kent Farms, also not fun.  

In 1974, he and Tina were living in an apartment but the landlord raised the rent beyond their means to $90 a month so they moved into a tent for a while. Luck was on their side when Bill Hand, an 80 year old in need of some help sauntered over to the tent. Bill lived in a home without electricity but was a force of cheerfulness surrounded by several animals including a pony named Surprise.

Tina and Andy moved in with him for a while and helped him get along. Their admiration for Bill and his optimism rings still in their words about him. While living with Bill, they made candles to use at night. In 1975 they sold candles at the Andover Maple Festival and were thrilled when they earned $200 during the festival. “We ate that weekend,” grinned Andy.

They started going to craft shows and music festivals in a 1957 school bus converted to a camper. The bus had space for candle making as well as living. They sold candles from Cornell to New Orleans and what they learned was that wherever they went with candles, people bought them. In early days, they shared their success by hiring local musician friends to help make candles. Andy still played guitar and wrote  expressive, sensitive songs, so most of their friends were musicians.

During Christmas, Tina and Andy went to a shopping mall and Tina saw customers in the hundreds walking through the mall and wondered if people at a mall would buy candles too. Not long after, Andy designed a push cart, had it built by a friend in Andover, and was allowed to put it in the open area of the mall. For two weeks in December they sold candles like mad.  

 Over the 41 years of their NL experience, they have tried and failed as well as succeeded. They have learned and grown, changed and developed and now employ 120 people. This thriving business occupies 160,000 square feet of manufacturing space in 3 buildings. Ceramic items and fashion glassware pieces are manufactured in China by the tens of thousands of items but all those thousands are filled with wax and wicks in Wellsville and then sold around the world.

Their fashion glass items, specialty shapes for candles, are manufactured overseas because there aren’t any factories in the US that can produce the shapes in the quantities that are needed. The empty glass is shipped to Wellsville to be filled with wax.

Several years ago, this little creative force in the world of candle making caught the attention of larger corporations. Bigger companies and venture capital groups have been interested in purchasing Northern Lights for years but the Glanzmans were not willing to sell company unless certain items on their check lists could be fitted into the agreement.

The jobs had to stay in Wellsville.  Over the time, their average employee has stayed for 20 years and they didn’t want anyone tossed out or forced to move. They also wanted to see the company grow. Andy feels that instead of employing 120 people, Northern Lights could grow several times larger.  It needs the right support to develop overseas markets, especially in China.

Knowing that their company was desired and reaching the conclusion that they were ready to sell, they found a lawyer to help them find the right deal.

The Glanzmans wanted the sale to be a good for them, their employees and the area. Their 120 employees make candles, candle accessories, fragrances, diffusers, and aroma sprays. The candle making supplies at Joanne Fabric stores are produced by Northern Lights. They also make candles for Yankee and for private label companies like Walgreens. There are items sold under the Northern Lights label but these are high end products placed in about 4,000 gift shops. For over 40 years the idea has been to constantly reinvest in the company, to always grow and change and take chances. On January 25, 2019, Zippo grew to include Northern Lights Candles.

For the foreseeable future, Andy Glanzman will remain the driving force at NL but as an employee working in tandem with Mark Paup, Zippo’s CEO.  The exciting part is that Zippo brings the overseas elements that NL needs. The difficult part is deciding what idea to work on first.

Tina will be wrapping up her time as CFO and retiring. She isn’t sure who she will be when she isn’t a CFO any longer but she is looking forward to the discovery and whatever she does it will be with Andy singing to her along the way.

Selling a business isn’t simple. Zippo is buying all the trademarks, international trademarks, copyrights, , license agreements and properties as well as leases for showrooms in Dallas, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Minneapolis. The deal, starting with a letter of intent and ending with the sale, took 8 months to work out. Glanzmans are pleased to be bonded with Zippo whose headquarters is nearby in Bradford where the company has long been a valued part of the community. Zippo will keep the manufacturing in Wellsville and to continue to value the creativity and innovation that NL is known for.

The question for further development for Northern Lights Candles isn’t what can we do but what will we do first. Tina will be wrapping up her time as CFO and retiring. She isn’t sure who she will be when she isn’t a CFO any longer but she is looking forward to the discovery and whatever she does it will be with Andy singing to her along the way.

Selling a business isn’t simple. Zippo is buying all the trademarks, international trademarks, copyrights, , license agreements and properties as well as leases for showrooms in Dallas, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Minneapolis. The deal, starting with a letter of intent and ending with the sale, took 8 months to work out. Glanzmans are pleased to be bonded with Zippo whose headquarters is nearby in Bradford where the company has long been a valued part of the community. Zippo will keep the manufacturing in Wellsville and to continue to value the creativity and innovation that NL is known for. 



Andy and Tina Glanzman are the owners of the property holding The Fassett GreenSpace Project in Wellsville. Andy is a member at large of the board of directors of Art For Rrual America, the Not For Profit operating the GreenSpace. 

Learn more about Andy's project, the Fassett GreenSpace Project here: https://artforruralamerica.wixsite.com/afra/green-space

The products made at Northern Lights Candles are here: https://northernlightscandles.com/

You can see an image of Bill on this page https://northernlightscandles.com/pages/inside-story







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