Wickander Works boutique in the Indian Springs Village Center makes gift buying easy with a large selection of items, including candles, jewelry, soaps, frames, puzzles and seasonal decor. The store will also gift-wrap each item in a complimentary gold or black bag, ensuring customers are party-ready when they leave the store.

"Every gift leaves in a gift bag ready to give," store manager Becca Wood said. "If you buy five gifts, we give you five different gift bags."

Wickander Works, which has been open for more than 12 years, focuses its merchandise collection on candles and candle accessories. One of the back walls of the store is lined with hundreds of Root dinner candles in various colors and sizes, gift-ready in a black box. The store features the largest selection of Root dinner candles in Houston, owner Becky Wickander said.

The store also offers a large selection of Pandora jewelry, jewelry by Lori Bonn and other fashion jewelry.

One of the other popular items is laser-engraved gifts, Wickander said. Wickander Works has an engraving machine, and the staff can personalize gifts while the customer waits in the store.

Gifts that can be engraved include crosses, water bottles, key chains, picture frames, compact mirrors, baby items and wedding gifts.

"We can put anything you want on these items," Wickander said. "And we can do it while you wait."

The store also sells potpourri that the customers scoop themselves, as well as a large selection of colorful scarves. In addition, Wickander Works sells Silver Jeans, sizes 0 to 26.

"I always wore suits to work here, and I wanted to wear blue jeans to work," Wickander said. "So I found this line I like to wear that my daughter and my niece liked, Silver Jeans. They are women's jeans. We all wear them to work now, and we sell them too."

The store also sells pens, jewelry holders and makeup brush holders, metal wall decor, and a large selection of picture frames, including frames with "The Woodlands" inscribed on the top.

In addition, the boutique has a monthly in-store contest to win a $100 gift bag from the store.

Wickander Works is the name of Wickander's previous business—bookkeeping for several small businesses in the Houston region.

Tired of driving so much for work, Wickander decided to seize on opportunity to own her own business when she saw a candle shop going out of business in Old Town Spring in late December 2000. She quickly decided to buy the store and had one month to decide what she would sell there. She opened that store in February 2001.

"It was a quick decision," Wickander said. "I've always wanted to own a gift store. This was the perfect opportunity. I wrote a check [for the lease] and didn't even know what I was going to sell."

She quickly filled the store there with candles, jewelry, seasonal items and other gifts.

Wickander travels throughout the country to buy new items for the store and changes her merchandise often.

Christmas items are already on the shelf there, and they are working to get more in the showroom each day, including hundreds of gold and silver ornaments hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the store.

"We get a steady amount of customers throughout the year," Wickander said. "But, October, November and December are always the busiest time of the year."

Candles for sale at Wickander Works

• Root Candles
• Bridgewater Candle Co.
• Trapp Candles
• Circle E Candles
• Voluspa Candles
• Ribbonwick Candles

Name brands carried at the store

• Pandora jewelry
• Lori Bonn jewelry
• Marc Roberts seasonal decor
• Angelstar angels
• P. Graham Dunn (custom laser engraving)
• Katherine's collection seasonal decor

Wickander Works, 6777 Woodlands Parkway, Ste. 204, The Woodlands, 281-651-9955 , www.wickanderworks.com

Hours: Tue.–Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m.