This is a stupid question that I have had for awhile now...

 

Why are there so many candle stores in the Poconos?

 

I know it may seem trivial, but there are seemingly infinite number of mom-and-pop esque candle stores in the Poconos. They are not chains that I know, just moreso in every little town and I can't explain why. Perhaps to cater to the "allure of vacations in the Poconos"? 

 

I don't mind it out here, but I do think it is funny when people talk about this area as a tourist spot..

Simple answer...because ppl are buying the candles. Maybe they buy em to have a nice scent in their rental. Maybe they buy em bc their husband is in the gun/fireworks/fishing store nearby and they are bored.

 

Exactly why is a guess but someones buying em for all the stores to stay in business.

 

Or they are all fronts for illegal activity bc candle inventory doesnt go bad.

No idea about the candle places. I've seen them. Lots of titty parlors too out there.

 

The Pokies used to be a vacation destination for a lot of middle class folks from the major metro areas and 'burbs. Like the Catskills. From when I was very young in the late 1950s, through the mid-late 1980s, these places bustled. Mickey Rooney owned a place that Barry Farber used to hawk on his late-night radio show in the '60s. 

 

By the 1990s everything started going downhill. Local economies stagnated then went south. The Italians, Jews, Germans, etc. who looked forward to their week in the "mountains" got old, and their kids got too uppity to be seen dead in these places. I played bridge at the Neville, in Ellenville (about 35 miles north of the Poconos, but could just as well be the same place). We played in an arena that used to hold major tennis tournaments. The halls on the way into the playing site were covered with photos of tennis greats from the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. 

 

Someone had bought the resort and was trying to renovate it, but the cause was hopeless. The place was a wreck.

 

The area within the triangle formed by Stroudsburg, Narrowsburg, and Kingston is pathetic. I remember summer days catching frogs and eating sandwiches at the Hillside Inn, just outside of Narrowsburg. This is what the pool area looked like when I was a nipper:

 

 

 

Now the place is gone -- only the stone walk in the front of the hotel remains. 

 

When we first moved up here in 1990 we got one of those free night deals at a place in the Poconos, an incentive to get scammed into buying a timeshare there. We pulled into the parking lot but didn't even get out of the car. Just turned around and went home. Sad.

 

We should have at least bought some candles.

I usually joke that there was only one book about small business in the library and it was about candles [or you name it]. Everybody dreaming about their own business read it and used it

Meth lab fronts.

I remember the women of my family would always do the candle shop and shopping outlet trip when we did the big family trip years ago. I think they basically are bored with wherever they are staying and consumerism sets in

 

 

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Newtonian is spot on with his analysis.  They used to run radio commercials for all the places up there...  ♫Beautiful Mount Airy Lodge♫  I can tell you this, when we went, in the early 80's, it wasn't so beautiful.  They had not updated in at least 15 years (at that point) and I felt they were riding on their laurels, and this was when I was still a kid.  The marketers tried to sell it as a honeymoon/anniversary/affair getaway type place with their champagne glass and heart shaped bathtubs.  It was the definition of kitsch.

 

The candle stores are for the women as are all the antique shops and the christmas shops.  The guy shops are Dunkelbergers, the fireworks places...  The common denominator up there seems to be "tourist shopping".  Heck the tourist shopping was so good, they put in an "Outlet Mall".

Wow..thats a question I never thought I would see asked here

That Mt. Airy Commercial from the 80's is still in my head! With the champagne glass tubs lol. "All you have to bring, is your love of everything". Whoever wrote that jingle is a genius because almost 30 years later I still remember it.

My wife an I once spent a New Year's Eve at Pocono Palace in the 70's. My two takeaways:

 

I felt guilty running probably 200 gallons of hot water into the heart shaped tub to fill it.

 

If you and your significant other want to broaden your experience sometime, spend a night in a round bed made with square sheets.

That Mt. Airy Commercial from the 80's is still in my head! With the champagne glass tubs lol. "All you have to bring, is your love of everything". Whoever wrote that jingle is a genius because almost 30 years later I still remember it.

There's a billboard on 80W in Paterson for a Poconos resort that shows a champagne glass tub

Candle Shops are good for money laundering.   After all, you can "manufacture" and sell as many candles as you'd like from recycled glass/wax/string and there is no true in/out of inventory.

Wow..thats a question I never thought I would see asked here

lol- well he did say its a stupid question! 

Newtonian is spot on with his analysis.  They used to run radio commercials for all the places up there...  ♫Beautiful Mount Airy Lodge♫  I can tell you this, when we went, in the early 80's, it wasn't so beautiful.  They had not updated in at least 15 years (at that point) and I felt they were riding on their laurels, and this was when I was still a kid.  The marketers tried to sell it as a honeymoon/anniversary/affair getaway type place with their champagne glass and heart shaped bathtubs.  It was the definition of kitsch.

 

The candle stores are for the women as are all the antique shops and the christmas shops.  The guy shops are Dunkelbergers, the fireworks places...  The common denominator up there seems to be "tourist shopping".  Heck the tourist shopping was so good, they put in an "Outlet Mall".

Oh jeez, I forgot about that place.  Wife and I booked a long weekend there around 1995 or thereabouts.  We had to pre-pay upon checking in, which I thought was odd.  We got into our "deluxe villa" which looked great in the tiny picture (remember this was pre-travelocity days).  It was a three-level room covered in old red shag carpet...on the walls!.  The hot tub in the middle level had tons of old candle wax drippings all over it, and what may have been dried cum.

The round bed was just a thin mattress on plywood.

We had to eat dinner in an old, moldy banquet hall and be seated with total strangers, despite the fact that half the tables were empty.  We did meet a nice couple from Mexico on their honeymoon, poor things.  The gym was a mess of busted equipment from 1955.  We tried to check and go home after the first night, but they refused to refund any money.

I ended up disputing the charge with the credit card company but lost the battle because we didn't leave before staying the first night.

Im currently in the Poconos a couple hundred feet off Lake Wallenpaupack.

There's a billboard on 80W in Paterson for a Poconos resort that shows a champagne glass tub

Lol although I grew up down there I rarely travel east of Parsippany these days. I'm allergic to Passaic county or anything east of it. I get a terrible rash doctor told me I'm allergic to liberals, and advised me to stay within Morris, Sussex, and Warren counties. I have to bring a bottle of calomine lotion to visit GFH or the rest of my family still stuck in Clifton, Wayne, Garfield, Hackensack, and Maywood. Haahahh I'm kidding of course. I've seen that billboard too...

Ooh, I remember now how I was kind of introduced to guns in america. We were spending a weekend in Poconos with friends and my wife insisted to go to candle shop. I was walking around taking pictures and spotted an ad for a shooting range 'tourists are welcome' around the corner. That's where we went next

...a shooting range 'tourists are welcome' around the corner.

http://www.poconopistol.com/ ???

It was quite a while ago. I did not even remember it happened until candle shop clue
I had to do a research; I am pretty sure it was Sunset Hill Shooting Range.

 

http://www.poconopistol.com/ ???

There's a billboard on 80W in Paterson for a Poconos resort that shows a champagne glass tub

That's ceasers adult only resort they have some rooms that have a 9 foot tall champaign glass. We stayed in the cove haven location one year kinda reminded me of summer camp for adults and not in the good way more of the cheap summer camp so your parents can get rid of you for a week in the summer

There are two types of people in the Poconos. New Yorkers (with NJ sprinkling), and New York or Hispanic gang members.

 

Apparently they like candles.

 

It's a shithole.

There are two types of people in the Poconos. New Yorkers (with NJ sprinkling), and New York or Hispanic gang members. Apparently they like candles. It's a shithole.

 

Nope, you got that entirely wrong sir.

 

It's a fragrant shithole with scented candles and fireworks.

In the Poconos Open Carry is normal. This is a picture from one of the state run gun ranges, $30/yr .

Nice sks!

There are two types of people in the Poconos. New Yorkers (with NJ sprinkling), and New York or Hispanic gang members. Apparently they like candles. It's a shithole.

Milford is a cute little burg. Expensive, but not a bad place to walk with wifey. Stroud is a bit downscale but not bad either, at least the main street.

 

But the surrounding areas, I have to agree, are kind of dumpy. The region has been hit hard for the last three decades by the loss of manufacturing jobs. 

 

I'll bet I'm the only person on these boards who spent a long "vacation" weekend with a group of friends in Stroudsburg. 

I'll bet I'm the only person on these boards who spent a long "vacation" weekend with a group of friends in Stroudsburg. 

You loose.  Pay me!

Haha. What was your situation?

 

Back in 1996 a large group from my daughter's kindergarten class trekked to Hershey Park for a weekend. We had a blast. Next year we decided that Hershey was too exciting, so we planned on Matamoras (!). But some incident caused the group to split. Half spent the weekend languishing, longingly for the lights of Port Jervis, across the river. Our group ended up in Stroudsburg. If I find the commemorative tee-shirt ("Girly Men Go to Matamoras," or some such) I'll post a photo. 

I used to work for a company and my territory was most all of the Poke-in-the-nose.  I traveled to all the major resorts at the time.  The decline started when Mountain Lodge family vacations went out of style (Mount Airy Lodge, Buck Hill Inn, Skytop, Pocono Manor, and more).  At one time they were something to see.  As the traveling public found other places to go for the same money (cheaper air fares and all), the area started a never ending decline just like the Catskills.  When they began to build cheap houses around Stroudsburg and sold them to NYC people, the area took on a whole new "flavor".  The "burgs" now have problems they do not know how to deal with.  Today, the number of empty houses sold to these people due to unemployment is staggering.   A kind of saving grace of sorts because those homeowners have left and things are a little quieter.  Still its pretty seedey at the 'burgs', but some other areas further north and west are quite nice. The area has growing pains that will not stop in my lifetime.

 

I can remember when there was only really one place to get candles.  Then two, and on and on.  Sign of the times.  Even the truck stop at 80 and 33 is gone, now a shopping mall.  What used to be a vaction paradise in the mountains is just another bedroom community of the New York metropolitan area. Sad, very sad. 

 

In the Poconos Open Carry is normal. This is a picture from one of the state run gun ranges, $30/yr .

 

 

That bayonet is likely illegal under PA law. If it has an edge on both sides it is considered a "dagger." I think you are allowed to have illegal PA knives as collectibles or a few other exceptions.

I used to work for a company and my territory was most all of the Poke-in-the-nose.  I traveled to all the major resorts at the time.  The decline started when Mountain Lodge family vacations went out of style (Mount Airy Lodge, Buck Hill Inn, Skytop, Pocono Manor, and more).  At one time they were something to see.  As the traveling public found other places to go for the same money (cheaper air fares and all), the area started a never ending decline just like the Catskills.  When they began to build cheap houses around Stroudsburg and sold them to NYC people, the area took on a whole new "flavor".  The "burgs" now have problems they do not know how to deal with.  Today, the number of empty houses sold to these people due to unemployment is staggering.   A kind of saving grace of sorts because those homeowners have left and things are a little quieter.  Still its pretty seedey at the 'burgs', but some other areas further north and west are quite nice. The area has growing pains that will not stop in my lifetime.

 

I can remember when there was only really one place to get candles.  Then two, and on and on.  Sign of the times.  Even the truck stop at 80 and 33 is gone, now a shopping mall.  What used to be a vaction paradise in the mountains is just another bedroom community of the New York metropolitan area. Sad, very sad. 

I lived in Washington Heights at that time and remembered a couple of huge billboards on both sides of the George Washington bridge advertizing those bedroom communities in the Poconos to all the denizens of upper Manhattan and the Bronx. As I understand it, what the developers and buyers did not take into account is that when catering to a community with kids who's idea of green space was largely what ever scraggly open ground there was between the "Projects, drop them in the middle of the country where the original residents neither wanted or understood them with no outlet other than gang rivalries they brought with them.Add to that their parents longer commute,huge balloon payments that came with the no down payment mortgages,buyers who were basically 2'nd generation renters with no idea of what it takes to own and maintain a home and it was a doomed undertaking from the start.