Meridian's Scentsy Celebrates Tremendous Growth
Meridian, Idaho -- The sweet smell of success. That's what one Treasure Valley company is experiencing, literally.
Wednesday, Scentsy celebrated that success with a look at their new home. They came a very long way from some pretty humble beginnings.
"We were in debt, had a business that was struggling and needed to swing for the fence," said Scentsy CEO and co-owner Orville Thompson.
Swing for the fence they did. Meridian-based Scentsy, which makes those lights with the cups on top to melt nice-smelling wax, are celebrating their recent move into the top three floors of the new Portico Office Building in Meridian.
"It's unbelievable to be where we are today," said Scentsy President and co-owner Heidi Thompson.
Scentsy started six years ago in a 40-foot ocean container on the Thompson's Meridian sheep farm with an idea the Thompsons bought from two stay-at-home moms in Salt Lake City. And once they decided to use direct selling home parties run by independent sales consultants to market their products, things really took off. "If we can help them make money, then our needs are going to be taken care of as a by-product of that," said Orville Thompson.
Their sales grew by an astonishing 8,000 percent to a little more than $178 million between 2006 and 2009 as a result.
"We just worked really hard. And to look around today at everything, it's really unbelievable," said Heidi.
Customer service call center workers are just some of the 700 people that work in Scentsy's new 60,000 square foot headquarters -- impressive by any measure for a company that started off so small.
"Scentsy even has outpaced our wildest imaginations to an extent and we're just happy to be along for the ride," said Orville Thompson. A ride that saw huge growth even through the recent recession. "When the economy turns, people want to find a happy place. And Scentsy's happy place for hundreds of thousands of people. Whether they're customers, consultants or employees," said Orville Thompson.
In August, Scentsy was named the fastest growing consumer products company in the country by Inc. Magazine. On top of that, they've provided hundreds of jobs. They'll need more workers as the company continues to grow. They told Fox 12 they're hiring new people every week.
