P.F. Candle Co.'s First-Ever Store Brings Woodsy-Botanical Scents & Home Decor to Echo Park

After popping up in Highland Park for the holidays last year, P.F. Candle Co. has scored a permanent space for its chic amber jars. The Austin-born, now LA-based company soft opened its first flagship two weeks ago in Echo Park, landing near a cool capsule of indie boutiques on the low-key stretch of Sunset Boulevard at Mohawk Street.

Located in the space previously occupied by Myrtle (which relocated to Row DTLA last year), the 700-square-foot shop is in good company with neighbors like Nico & Bullitt, Memento Mori, Gentlemen's Breakfast, Luxe de Ville, and more. P.F.'s first standalone boutique stocks its classic soy candles and perfumes in signature scents like spruce, patchouli sweetgrass, piñon, and teakwood & tobacco alongside its Terra collection, reed diffusers, and room sprays, alongside planters and greenery.

Also on the shelves are coffee table books in a range of lifestyle topics (like cooking, interior design, DIY, and plant care), enamel kitchenware from Falcon, ceramic tea sets from Kinto, skincare and body products from Wild Honey Botanicals and Etta + Billie, handmade soaps, woven blankets from Mexico, and many other favorite finds curated by founder Kristen Pumphrey. (Fun fact: The brand takes its name from pommes frites, a cheeky play on her last name that also translates to "French fries" in French.)

P.F. fans who've shopped its goods at Unique LA may notice that the store reflects an elevated version of the brand's booth setups. Ikea Ivar shelves (you know the ones!) have been replaced with light wood and white metal fixtures designed by Pumphrey and made by locally-based Boyle Iron & Wood, which also helped make the cashier's desk. Pumphrey and her husband/company co-owner Thomas Neuberger teamed with another wife-and-husband duo, Bolt Action, to renovate the sun-filled space's interiors, which features a fresh coat of bright white paint and a back patio.

The brand is hosting a full weekend of grand opening festivities Friday, December 14 to Sunday, December 16; swing by between 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for light bites and drinks while you shop. P.F. also plans to host upcoming events and DIY workshops; we'll keep you updated on those happenings as they're announced.

We recently chatted with Pumphrey to find out what she loves about her first-ever store's building and its surroundings, how an LA landmark inspired the shop's design, and how the company has evolved since it began 10 years ago — read all about it below, and scroll through the gallery to see more inside the dreamy space.

How did you find the space, and what do you love about it?

We looked for a couple months all over Los Angeles for our flagship. New builds or plain buildings didn't speak to me — this place had big windows, a back patio, and amazing light. Light is very important. On the practical side, it reduces your need for electricity. On the aesthetic side, it shines for photos. I love how old the building is: It's almost 100 years old. It's classic LA. I liked the small size of it, because that meant we could absorb rent increases easier than a big place.

What do you love about the neighborhood?

I first visited Los Angeles in 2006, and my introduction to the city was through the [neighborhoods in and around the] Eastside. I've always liked Echo Park because of the houses, the food, the parks, Dodger Stadium, and its proximity to Downtown LA. We also asked our followers on Instagram where we should open a shop, and got a lot of Silver Lake [and] Echo Park requests, so it seemed like our customers (and staff) lived here. More than anything, the space is what made me choose this neighborhood. It's got history.

What was your inspiration during the interior design process with Bolt Action?

I wanted to really open the space up and make the back patio a functional part of the shop. There's a ton of stores in Venice that utilize patios for merchandise, but not as many over here. We put in a glass back door so your eye is drawn out there, and you're drawn further into the shop. We got rid of a dividing wall that separated the back of the shop, and it just made the ceilings seem higher. It really draws your eye up.

We also upgraded the exterior: I painted it white because I wanted to brighten it up, and picked handmade Saltillo tiles because the terra cotta is awesome, and that's a material that feels very iconic California — think about Union Station. I used to never like tiled floors, but when I moved to California and had no AC, I spent a lot of time just laying on the tile floors and I got it.

Thinking back on when you first created P.F. Candle Co., how does your initial vision compare to where the brand is at today?

I didn't have a five-year plan for P.F. — Tom says I had a two-month plan. It was just, "Okay, I have to make these candles so that I can pay rent." My initial dream was just to "quit my day job," meaning I would make a living by having a successful Etsy shop. Since 2013, we've been rapidly growing, going from just me in a bedroom by myself making things to a large team. Any time an opportunity came, we said, "yes." You may never get that opportunity again, so you figure out how to make it work. In a way, the original vision hasn't changed, it's just now encompassing more people. Instead of just providing a living for myself with handmade items, I think about providing a good life for my staff, and my daughter.

PF Candle Co., 2213 Sunset Blvd., LA, 90026; open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily excluding holidays; (323) 284-8431