Charmed Aroma - popular Station Mall store - to close Dec. 24

Charmed Aroma - a boutique that sells candles and bath bombs with jewellery inside - will be closing its Sault Ste. Marie location in Station Mall on Saturday, Dec. 24.

“Initially we weren’t supposed to be one of the stores that would be closing at all,” said store manager Kathryn Forest, speaking to SooToday.

“Apparently there are several that are being closed in Toronto and across Canada. We ended up getting a notice that we were actually on the list of stores to be closed and we were given a potential closing date of January 7th, meaning that we would at least be able to find other jobs and have a paycheque through Christmas.”

“Then last week they sent off an email stating that unfortunately they would be closing our store on the 24th, on Christmas Eve,” Forest said.

Eight employees are affected by the store’s closure.

“It was a little bit of a hard one to take, definitely,” Forest said.

Charmed Aroma sells candles and bath bombs with a special trinket inside, such as bracelets, rings, necklaces or earrings.

“They’re really cool. They’re really great gift ideas and people thoroughly enjoy them. It’s sad to see it go,” Forest said.

The Charmed Aroma website lists 42 locations across Canada.

Charmed Aroma is a global company that started off in the online shopping world and experienced significant growth, shipping its goods all over the world.

The company’s online shopping presence will remain despite store closures in Canada.

Though Charmed Aroma did not indicate how many of its stores are closing, officials told SooToday the closures are "due to the implications of the pandemic, increased supply chain costs and client shopping habits. With that, a tough decision was made to close underperforming stores to maximize on our stores that are performing well."