“I think always do a Shopify in tandem with an Etsy store.” (Tamara Mayne, founder, Brooklyn Candle Studio)
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Background: The Starting Point
- The Strategy
- Step 1: Treat Etsy as a Testing Ground, Not a Ceiling
- Step 2: Say Yes to the Wholesale Order Etsy Can’t Handle
- Step 3: Open a Self-Owned Store Without Closing the Etsy Shop
- Step 4: Build the Marketing Channels a Marketplace Won’t Give You
- The Results
- Key Lessons
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line
Introduction
In this case study, I’m going to show you exactly how a single-person Etsy candle shop turned into a wholesale brand stocked in more than 400 retail locations across 20-plus countries, without ever fully leaving Etsy behind.
This is one of the more thoroughly documented cases of an Etsy seller diversifying beyond the marketplace: Shopify’s own interview with founder Tamara Mayne lays out the timeline, the numbers, and the exact decisions behind Brooklyn Candle Studio’s growth. Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of what she did and what any Etsy seller weighing the same move can take from it.
Background: The Starting Point
Tamara Mayne started making soy candles in her Brooklyn apartment in 2013, mostly as gifts for friends. She wasn’t sure the idea would work as a business at all. As she put it, she questioned “would anyone buy a scented product online that they couldn’t smell?”
She opened an Etsy shop anyway. Within two to three months of making candles, her first orders arrived, landing that October. Sales picked up hard through November and December, driven by holiday shopping and by Etsy’s own feature emails, which put her candles in front of buyers actively searching for Christmas gifts.
The moment that changed the trajectory came six months after she opened the shop: a retailer found her Etsy listings while searching for Christmas candles and placed a wholesale order worth $4,000, more than her monthly paycheck at her day job at the time.
That single order is the “before” state worth paying attention to. Mayne wasn’t running a business yet. She was running a hobby that had accidentally found real demand, still sold entirely through one marketplace, with no wholesale infrastructure, no separate storefront, and no plan for what came next.
The Strategy
Instead of scaling that demand entirely inside Etsy, Mayne built two things in parallel: a wholesale operation to serve retailers directly, and eventually her own Shopify store to hold the brand experience Etsy’s marketplace template couldn’t provide.
She didn’t close the Etsy shop to do either of these. That distinction matters. Her stated approach was to run a self-owned store in tandem with Etsy, not as a replacement for it. Here’s why that sequencing worked.
Step 1: Treat Etsy as a Testing Ground, Not a Ceiling
What she did: Mayne used her Etsy shop to validate demand before investing in anything more complex, keeping her production costs low while she learned whether candles would sell at all.
Why this over the alternative: Building a custom store first, before knowing if the product had a market, would have meant sinking time and money into infrastructure for a business that might not have existed. Etsy’s existing buyer traffic and built-in search let her skip that risk entirely.
How she executed it: She listed products, let Etsy’s internal search and seasonal feature emails do the discovery work, and watched which listings converted. The fern and moss candle in mason jars, inspired by a hike in California, became her most popular product this way.
Data from this step: Etsy feature placements alone drove enough order volume in her first holiday season to convince her the business was real, well before she had any paid marketing running.
Step 2: Say Yes to the Wholesale Order Etsy Can’t Handle
What she did: When the $4,000 wholesale inquiry came in, Mayne fulfilled it, even though her Etsy shop wasn’t set up for bulk retailer pricing or invoicing.
Why this over the alternative: Turning down the order to stay comfortably inside Etsy’s retail-only structure would have capped her growth at whatever a single consumer marketplace could produce. Wholesale buyers don’t shop the same way retail customers do, and Etsy’s listing format isn’t built for negotiated bulk pricing.
How she executed it: She treated the order as proof of a second revenue channel, not a one-off. That single wholesale relationship became the template for the wholesale side of the business, which later grew to represent 85% of total revenue.
Data from this step: One order, worth more than a month of her prior salary, was the entire signal she needed to commit. She quit her full-time design job within the year.
Step 3: Open a Self-Owned Store Without Closing the Etsy Shop
What she did: Roughly a year after quitting her day job, and after another six months spent rebranding, Mayne launched a Shopify store, about 18 months total from her first Etsy sale to a fully independent, branded storefront she controlled.
Why this over the alternative: Etsy’s marketplace template limits how a shop can present its brand. Mayne wanted “to represent [her] brand across all facets, from typography to all the imagery,” which a shared marketplace layout doesn’t allow. She also needed capabilities Etsy didn’t offer, including generating hundreds of individual discount codes for a Guilt City deal promotion.
How she executed it: She kept the Etsy shop running the entire time. As she told Shopify directly, “I think always do a Shopify in tandem with an Etsy store.” Etsy’s community reviews and marketplace visibility kept working as a discovery and trust layer, while Shopify became the store where she controlled pricing, promotions, and wholesale access.
Data from this step: The wholesale side, once the Shopify store existed to support it, grew to reach more than 400 retail locations in over 20 countries, including retail partnerships with West Elm, Whole Foods, Urban Outfitters, and Ann Taylor.
Step 4: Build the Marketing Channels a Marketplace Won’t Give You
What she did: With her own store live, Mayne layered in Pinterest advertising, local press outreach, and market events, channels Etsy’s internal marketplace search doesn’t touch at all.
Why this over the alternative: Etsy can drive traffic to a listing, but it can’t build an owned audience a seller keeps if they ever leave the platform. Pinterest ads targeting botanical still-life imagery matched her product’s aesthetic and pulled in buyers actively planning purchases, not just browsing a marketplace.
How she executed it: She promoted branded pins tied to her product photography, pursued a local feature in Brooklyn Based, and tracked engagement on Instagram to see which imagery converted into wholesale interest as well as retail sales.
Data from this step: Wholesale revenue and retail store count kept climbing after these channels came online. Revenue doubled from 2015 to 2016, and the business was on pace to double again in 2017, according to the same Shopify interview.
The Results
Revenue doubled year over year for at least two consecutive years, while retail distribution grew to 400-plus stores across 20-plus countries.
| Metric | Before (Etsy-only, ~2013) | After (Etsy + Shopify wholesale) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales channels | 1 (Etsy only) | 2 (Etsy retail + Shopify wholesale) | +1 channel |
| Retail stockists | 0 | 400+ locations | New revenue line |
| Countries reached | US only (via Etsy shipping) | 20+ countries | Global distribution |
| Revenue, 2015 to 2016 | Baseline | Doubled | +100% |
| Share of revenue from wholesale | 0% | 85% | New primary channel |
| Time from first Etsy sale to full-time business | N/A | ~18 months | Documented timeline |
The single biggest driver behind these numbers wasn’t a marketing trick. It was building the infrastructure, a real storefront, wholesale pricing tools, and password-protected ordering, that let a single $4,000 order turn into a repeatable channel instead of a one-time win.
Key Lessons
Don’t treat “leaving Etsy” as all-or-nothing. Mayne never closed her Etsy shop. The marketplace kept working as a discovery and trust channel even after her own store became the larger revenue source. Sellers weighing this move can compare what each platform actually costs to run before deciding how much weight to shift.
A single unusual order can be a signal, not a fluke. The $4,000 wholesale inquiry only mattered because Mayne recognized it as evidence of a channel, not a lucky break, and built systems to repeat it.
Brand control has to be earned before it’s usable. Mayne didn’t launch her own store on day one. She waited until Etsy had proven the product and funded the rebrand that made an independent storefront worth having.
Wholesale and retail need different infrastructure. Bulk discount tools, password-protected ordering portals, and stockist invoicing aren’t things a standard Etsy shop supports. Building them required leaving the marketplace’s default toolkit, even while keeping the marketplace itself.
Owned marketing channels outlast any one platform. Pinterest ads, press coverage, and an email-capable storefront are assets a seller keeps regardless of what any single marketplace does with its algorithm or fees next. Sellers early in this process can start by building an email list before making any bigger move.
Fee figures and platform comparisons referenced in this article reflect Etsy’s published fee schedule at time of writing. Sellers should confirm current rates in their own shop’s Payments settings, since marketplace fee structures change without much notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Tamara Mayne and what does Brooklyn Candle Studio sell?
Tamara Mayne founded Brooklyn Candle Studio in 2013, making hand-poured soy candles with cotton-braided wicks and natural fragrances, starting from her Brooklyn apartment before growing into a wholesale brand.
How can I replicate Brooklyn Candle Studio’s move from Etsy to Shopify?
Start by validating demand on Etsy the way Mayne did, then build a second channel, whether that’s wholesale, your own store, or both, once you have evidence buyers want more than Etsy alone can deliver.
How long does it take to build a self-owned store while still selling on Etsy?
In this documented case, it took about 18 months from Mayne’s first Etsy sale to a fully rebranded, independent Shopify store, including six months spent specifically on rebranding before she scaled.
Does keeping an Etsy shop still make sense once you have your own store?
Yes, in Mayne’s case. She kept both running because Etsy’s marketplace traffic and reviews continued to bring in new buyers even after her Shopify store became the larger revenue channel.
What tools did Brooklyn Candle Studio use to run wholesale orders?
According to the Shopify interview, she used a password-protected wholesale portal app, a bulk discount app for stockist pricing, and a product options app so retailers could select scents when ordering.
What’s the biggest mistake to avoid when diversifying beyond Etsy?
Waiting for permission from a single big order instead of building repeatable systems around it. Mayne’s $4,000 order only compounded because she built wholesale infrastructure around it instead of treating it as a one-off.
Is this approach still viable for Etsy sellers today?
The core sequence, validate on Etsy, then add a second channel once demand is proven, doesn’t depend on any specific year. What changes over time is Etsy’s fee structure, so sellers should check current Etsy fees before modeling their own numbers.
What’s the most important step before opening a second sales channel?
Having evidence of real demand first. Mayne didn’t build a Shopify store until Etsy had already produced a $4,000 wholesale order and a track record of holiday sales.
Do I need a big following before wholesale buyers will approach me?
No. Mayne’s first wholesale order came from a retailer searching Etsy’s own marketplace for Christmas candles, not from an existing following or paid outreach.
How much does it cost to run a Shopify store alongside an Etsy shop?
This case study doesn’t document specific Shopify subscription costs. Sellers comparing ongoing platform costs should review Etsy’s fee schedule against Shopify’s current published pricing before switching or adding a second platform.
What’s the difference between selling wholesale and selling retail on your own site?
Wholesale means selling in bulk to retailers at a discounted price so they can resell your product in their own stores, which is how Brooklyn Candle Studio reached 400-plus locations. Retail, whether on Etsy or Shopify, means selling directly to the end customer at full price.
Should new Etsy sellers start with their own store first, or with Etsy?
Based on this documented case, starting on Etsy first, then adding an owned store once demand is proven, reduced Mayne’s risk. She didn’t invest in a custom storefront until Etsy had already validated the product.
The Bottom Line
Brooklyn Candle Studio’s growth from a single Etsy shop to 400-plus retail stockists in 20-plus countries wasn’t built by abandoning Etsy. It was built by using Etsy for what it’s good at, low-risk product validation and marketplace discovery, and layering a self-owned store on top once real demand justified it.
For sellers considering the same move, the lesson isn’t “leave Etsy.” It’s build the second channel deliberately, before you need it, and let the data from your own shop tell you when.
Related Articles
- The Complete Guide to Leaving Etsy for Your Own Store: a fuller walkthrough of the platform choice, traffic, and fee math behind this exact transition.
- Etsy Fee Calculator: How Much You Really Pay Per Sale: see the real per-sale math that makes a second channel worth building.
- How to Build an Email List Before Leaving Etsy: the owned-audience groundwork that made Brooklyn Candle Studio’s marketing channels work.
About This Research
Nadia Cole has spent the better part of a decade elbow-deep in marketplace algorithms — first optimizing Etsy shops for other sellers, then writing about what actually works instead of what sounds good in a blog post. Nadia writes and edits Marketplace Hackers’ guides on Etsy category strategy, fees, and store growth.
This case study is based on Shopify’s published interview with Brooklyn Candle Studio founder Tamara Mayne, cross-referenced against Etsy’s official fee schedule and diversification guidance from Aeolidia, an e-commerce agency serving product-based makers. No figures in this article were estimated or invented; every number traces back to the sourced interview.
Content reviewed and updated: 2026-09-04
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