BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — In 2020, the owners of Secret Gardens Candle Company managed to block most of the pandemic's plunging economic effects by creating hand sanitizers instead of candles. However, there was no escaping the wrath of 2021's winter storm.
READ MORE: Tulsa candle business turned hand sanitizer manufacturer
The hard freeze stressed water pipes at the Professional Suites plaza, so they burst. Among the casualties is the Secret Garden Candles Co. store. The owner, Matthew Vasquez said damage costs could be around $100,000.
Secret Gardens Candle Co. has spent 30 years in Tulsa. Vasquez took over as owner a year ago. His ownership anniversary will now be spent picking up and moving forward.
“It could’ve been worse," Vasquez said. "What do you do? There was nothing to stop what we had seen. We walked around and said, ‘What can we save,’ and started calculating the damage and decided, once we packed up everything we could save and put it under tarps, it was time to go.”
Vasquez also said, despite the involvement of insurance companies, he will have out-of-pocket costs.
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