ANDERSONVILLE — An Albany Park candle store and apothecary is opening a location in Andersonville while rebranding the business.
Scent Queens Candle Co. & Apothecary Shoppe, 3728 W. Montrose Ave., is expanding with a storefront at 5517 N. Clark St. Owners and married couple Curtis Bumgarner and Andrew Bumgarner-Cookson expect to open the store by the end of summer, Bumgarner said.
When it opens, the Andersonville store and the original Albany Park location will be known as The Midnight Treasury, Bumgarner said.
The name “Scent Queens” typically made people assume it was a woman-owned business, and many customers thought it was just a candle company, Bumgarner said.
But Scent Queens sells far more than just candles, Bumgarner said. They also sell soaps, perfumes, books, tea and antique and vintage items, he said.
“It was always such a hard thing to explain,” he said of the business’s name. “A rebranding is the best way forward so that we can just encompass everything that we do.”
The Andersonville location will stock similar items as the Albany Park store, but the Clark Street space also has room for a 20-foot candle bar for people to make their own candles, Bumgarner said.
Scent Queens originated from the couple’s longtime love of candles, they told Block Club previously.
The couple started making candles for family and friends in 2019. When the pandemic hit, they decided to turn their hobby into a business because they were spending so much time at home, Bumgarner said previously. They launched an online store before opening the brick-and-mortar location near their Albany Park home in 2022.
Customers can stay up to date with the business’s social media for details on the Andersonville store’s grand opening.
Edgewater Candles Opening A Workshop Space
A beloved Edgewater candle business is expanding its store with a space next door just for classes.
Edgewater Candles, 1050 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., is taking over a former daycare at 1048 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., said co-owner Mark Towns.
Since opening in 2022, Edgewater Candles has had to keep a space in Evanston for storage and shipping. But with the additional room, everything will now be under one roof, Towns said.
The expanded area will also serve as a dedicated classroom space, Towns said. Right now, the store can only host eight to 10 people, but he gets requests for larger classes all the time, he said.
“The classes will be in a space dedicated for them, so shoppers shopping won’t feel any type of way because they’re in the same space while a class is occurring, and the class people will feel comfortable doing their own thing,” he said.
Towns said he expects the classroom space to be open by the end of the summer.
“I’m really excited to triple our footprint on Bryn Mawr, because the space that we’re gaining is twice the size of our current space, and it’s going to be just as beautiful, and so there’ll be this big stretch of really pretty storefront on Bryn Mawr,” Towns said.
Home Decor Store homebird Opens In Andersonville
A home decor store recently opened on Andersonville’s bustling business corridor.
homebird, 5238 N. Clark St., opened July 18, selling everything from candles and soap to coffee-table books and throw pillows. Married couple Alfie Rivera and Tom Rzeszutek, along with Rivera’s mom, Barbie Daggett, are the owners of homebird — styled with a lowercase “h,” they told Block Club.
Rivera, who has a background in fashion design, worked for about seven years at Andersonville’s Cowboys & Astronauts with co-founder Matthew Buccilla, where he saw firsthand the ins and outs of running a small business, he said.
Working at Cowboys & Astronauts “truly was an amazing experience, just partly because of the community,” Rivera said. “That’s actually what gave me the confidence to open up homebird.”
In 2025, Buccilla decided to sell Cowboys & Astronauts, which gave Rivera the opportunity to start conceptualizing his own business, he said.
“I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” he said. “For me, home is so important. It’s one of those places where, after a long day, we come home and we truly get to be ourselves in the safety of those four walls.”
Rzeszutek, who handles the finances, HR and other behind-the-scenes work of the business, said when people walk in the door of homebird, he hopes it feels like walking into their home.
“And we don’t want to sell the exact same sort of stuff that you see in a lot of different stores, so we’re really trying to look for those those special special makers and special pieces that are still accessible to people,” Rzeszutek said.
Rivera and Rzeszutek said the reception from the Andersonville community has already been positive.
“Truthfully, it’s been a beautiful, overwhelming experience,” Rivera said. “So many customers are just really resonating with everything. They feel like pieces can work in their home, and they feel excited about it.”
Homebird is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays and Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.
