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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1988)
Page 8 The Battalion Thursday, December 8,1988 ‘Scentchip’ creators thrive despite troubled Texas economy SAN ANTONIO (AP) — They may not be the biggest or the best sculptures Ken Moore has ever cre ated, but his 79 varieties of wax Scentchips have proved to be the product with the sweetest smell of success. Moore, a former clinical psycholo gist, inventor and artist, and his art ist wife, Kathy, first delved into the candle-making business almost 10 years ago. It didn’t go well. While Mrs. Moore struggled to keep the business going, Moore worked as a restaurant manager to keep them solvent. Things changed when Moore dreamed up Scentchips — scent-sat urated chips of wax shaped like a flower and leaf and measuring less than 1 inch in length. The chips can be placed in a bowl and used like potpourri or burned using a wax cone in the center of the mixture of chips. This year the Moores expect their Scentchips to gross $8 million in sales. The patented chips are sold in retail stores in all 50 states. and a wick,’’ says Moore, 40. In creating a new product cat egory, Scentchips successfully fought off corporate giant Hall mark, which had tried to market a similar product under the name Scent Chips. and an eight-chip variety of Ha waiian scents: pineapple, white gin- ger r red ginger, gardenia, hibiscus, pikake, plumeria and tuberose. “That isn’t bad, particularly when we first started out the only experi ence I had ever had in candle-mak ing was in the fourth grade when we made candles using a milk carton The Moores’ chips come in 52 fra grances, including vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, strawberry, lemon, orange, lime, maple, clove and the Christmas scents of frankincense and myrrh. There are 19 fragrances mimick ing Chanel, Obsession, Halston, Polo, Opium and other perfumes. “Scentchips are not tied to [ the local economy as other products are, so we’ve been successful. ’’ — Ken Moore, Seen tchip maker The Scentchips venture that first only included the Moores and some of their family members now em ploys 75 people. Moore has written two books that tell merchants how to sell Scentchips and another that tells them how to mix the chips to get different aro mas. By this time next year, Moore ex pects to chip in some of the Scent chips earnings to finance construc tion of an old Texas Christmas Village about 7 miles north of San Antonio. His 50,000 square-foot Scentchips production plant will serve as the anchor attraction among numerous arts and crafts shops that will open for a six-week Christmas sales and This year Fll get organized. •Xv •r-TvXv , ^ * ooc*::' And this year I really mean it. So I’m buying 8 myself an IBM ? Personal System/2® computer to help me do everything from organizing notes and revising papers to creating high-quality graphics, and more. And not only is this IBM PS/2 easy to learn and use, but if I’m eligible. I’ll save up to 40% with my discount. Who knows, with this IBM PS/2,1 may be so organized even my socks will match. FREE box of diskettes and diskette case with purchase of a PS/2. Hurry-supplies are limited. See the MicroComputerCenter for details. MicroComputerCenter SAN show extravaganza. |Dietz 1 “Sometimes we feel guilty that 1R)to a r this Texas economy were doingJ Alt!' well,” Moore says. “Scentchips an Raves not tied to the local economy i |hup s< other products are, so we’ve hen Indun successful. iprds. "What we want to do is create8 ^ven p organization of manufacturers i ijj, her this village and to help them,; ireful terms of going into the place,” Moore says. 00 a for the I A se Ity, fo “We know there is a tremendft amount of talented people out tha g 0n e t< and we’ve already been through at a year of what they have gone through d f ea t of we just want to help,” he says. gjionth loks a aupoi 7.5-hoi |orce 1 Her [raster “I get t jsh tl But ping, To one yer Wi ■ Her ■imme aflist. “ ecaus i- vw-sT'.. - r'f&r; pHr V-'S'i [hou taip lySz&s&iLv W?Sf nany yante Cuds. nemt She /Vith klphal eat o INYADS, BUT REAL HEAVYWEffl WHEN RESULTS REALLY COUNT. io matter what you've go to say or sell, our Classi fieds can help you do the big job. Battalion Classifiei 845-2611; YOU DON’T KNOI WHERE TO EAT OUT? Computer Soles and Supplies Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 9a.m.-5p.m Memorial Student Center IBM and Personal System/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Check the Battalion ads!