About Us
Shining Sol Candle Company was founded in 2012 by award winning musician, producer, and author Pete Evick who has worked alongside music Icon and TV reality star Bret Michaels as guitarist and music director for the last 17 years. While it started as a quiet hobby in his seemingly loud life, he decided to turn it into an online business that would teach his kids the skills of entrepreneurism. Pete had the desire to create something new and different with the timeless art of candle making. Additionally, he found that he could take part in helping stimulate the American economy and contribute to the American farming industry by using soy wax as opposed to the common candlemaking wax known as paraffin. Learning that soy is clean burning and non-toxic all the while supporting our country and environment at the same time? You just can’t go wrong.
Next came the choice to use a wood wick vs. cotton wick. The wood wick provides a relaxing ambiance as it crackles like wood in a fireplace. The combination of soy and wood wick is less common due to complications of not being able to achieve a perfect burn pool when the two are combined. However, after months of research and development the Shining Sol team found the right balance and formula for the “perfect” candle.
It wasn’t long after that Pete called on longtime friend Sara Rodriguez for her artistic vision and passion for unique candle ideas. Together, they quickly created a buzz in their home state of Virginia and rocked the boat in the online candle community. The demand for a stronger online marketing presence was needed as the company grew. Pete was fortunate enough to know just the guy, childhood friend Deron Blevins. Deron’s 25+ year background in graphic/web design and marketing had successfully helped turn several small businesses into multi-million dollar companies. Deron had already developed great interest in what Shining Sol was doing and joined the team. Shining Sol continued to grow to even greater levels.
With this continued growth, Shining Sol decided to launch its first brick and mortar store in the Historic Downtown district of Pete and Deron’s hometown of Manassas, Virginia. Since the store opened in 2016 it has placed in the coveted “Best Gift Shop” award (Northern Virginia region) in Virginia Living Magazine’s yearly “Best Of” issue (2017-2022) as well as “Business Of The Year” in 2018 by the City Of Manassas.
In the Summer of 2020 Shining Sol took the next step and opened its second retail location at the unique and popular destination of Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Pete and Deron have been visiting Barefoot Landing for 25+ years and knew that it would be perfect for their next store location. In fact, they were so certain that they put their name on a waiting list just weeks after the Manassas store opened in 2016. Four years later that vision was finally realized. Strangely enough, before 2020 came to an end opportunity came knocking once more and plans for store #3 fell into place. Coming in March of 2021 Shining Sol – Rehoboth Beach will be opening.
Our passion for candle making grows stronger every day with Shining Sol and the desire to continue making the best candles in the world is our top priority. Our creative team works non-stop to come up with new and exciting scents and designs all while remaining a handmade product of the USA.