A Candle That Smells Like Home: Vancouver’s Ollie & Co. Goes from Lockdown to YVR
Jeannie Leung started making candles for friends and family. Now her Vancouver-inspired fragrances let travellers take a little of British Columbia home—and locals make memories of their own.
October 3, 2026 · By Justin Plosz · Vancouver, British Columbia · Business · 7 min read read
What would you take home from a rainy walk in Vancouver?
A photograph remembers what a place looked like. A scent can remind you how it felt to be there. That is the idea behind Vancouver’s Ollie & Co., a home-fragrance business built around the connection between a smell, a place and a particular memory.
Its Raincouver fragrance is the clearest introduction: a rainy Sunday walk along the seawall near Stanley Park, translated into notes of patchouli, geranium, leaves, moss, incense and myrrh. This is the brand’s interpretation of Vancouver, not a claim that a candle can reproduce an entire city. The interest lies in the attempt—and in the founder who has made that attempt her business.
Jeannie Leung began with candles for friends and family during lockdown. By May 2026, Vancouver International Airport was introducing her in a founder video and reporting the products at three of its retail locations. A personal project had become something travellers could carry home.
Explore Ollie & Co.’s original scent and product imagery on Instagram
A home that needed a personal touch became a business
The brand’s official story describes spending long periods at home during lockdown and noticing that the space was missing a personal touch. Leung already liked candles, so making them for friends and family became an answer. A hobby developed into a more serious creative pursuit.
The business’s stated goal is to evoke people, places and moments that matter. That gives it a clearer identity than simply selling a pleasant smell in a jar. A customer might choose a scent because it reminds them of a trip, a familiar part of the coast or an ordinary Sunday they would like to remember.
YVR’s founder feature supplies the public identification that a short brand About page does not: Jeannie Leung is the person behind Ollie & Co. Its 96-second video is included here so readers can hear her explain the connection between scent, design and memory in her own words.
“Meet Ollie & Co.” — YVR Airport, May 21, 2026, approximately 1 min 36 sec. Founder Jeannie Leung discusses her Vancouver-made fragrance brand and its airport retail presence. This is YVR’s published feature, not a PRC interview.
Watch YVR’s original founder interview with Jeannie Leung
Raincouver, Tofino and the work of making a place into a scent
Raincouver provides a local answer to the question of what makes a gift feel like Vancouver. Its official product description points to a walk beside Stanley Park’s seawall in the rain. The notes are a blend of greenery, floral character and deeper aromatic elements rather than a generic label that simply says “fresh.”
The broader collection moves around British Columbia. Tofino Storm Watching lists seaweed, water, sea salt and sea air. Whistler Alpine Meadows lists red cedar, silver fir, driftwood and musk. Granville Island takes a different route entirely, with vegetable and herb notes including celery, carrot, tomato, thyme, oregano and pepper. Those details come from the brand’s current collection pages; how any individual experiences them is personal.
In the YVR video, Leung says her Tofino scent took a year and a half to develop and involved twelve different scent components. That detail makes the creative work more tangible. Turning a destination into a product is not simply choosing a place name for a label; in her account, it involved repeated work on the fragrance itself.
Ollie & Co. Raincouver candle product photograph from the Vancouver brand’s official collection. Photo: Ollie & Co. Check current sizes and availability directly.
Read Raincouver’s scent notes, formats and official product information
A Vancouver-made souvenir reaches the airport
For a small local business, airport retail offers a particularly fitting audience: people who have just experienced a place and are about to leave it. YVR’s May 21, 2026 feature says Ollie & Co.’s home-fragrance products were available at three airport locations, including Alpine Loft in the International Terminal.
Leung explains in the video that visitors can take a product home and experience the memory of Vancouver again. YVR frames the partnership with retailer Hudson as a way to support small businesses and showcase British Columbia’s creativity. That is a documented retail milestone, not a sales-growth figure or a promise that every airport shop has every scent.
Airport access and store stock can change. A traveller specifically seeking Ollie & Co. should check the current retailer and terminal information before relying on a visit, particularly where a shop is in a terminal area they may not be able to enter. The important business story is the connection: a local maker’s work can become part of a visitor’s memory of B.C.
See YVR’s Instagram feature on Ollie & Co.’s airport retail milestone
Beyond candles: different ways to live with a fragrance
The official store offers more than one format. Alongside candles are reed diffusers, room sprays, car fresheners and gift sets. A shopper can choose a product around how they intend to use it rather than treating a flame as the only way to bring a scent into a room.
The website describes its candles as hand-poured in Vancouver using soy wax, phthalate-free fragrance and a lead-free cotton wick. Those are the brand’s published product specifications, not an independent laboratory certification or a medical claim. A fragrance preference is not a guarantee that a product suits every person, pet or household.
The Raincouver Collection discovery set offers three small candles: Raincouver plus two selected companion scents. It creates a practical introduction to the collection for someone unsure which destination will become their favourite. Prices, contents and stock should be checked on the live product page. The website’s published safety guidance also matters: burn on a stable, heat-safe surface, keep candles in sight, follow wick-trimming instructions and never treat a burning candle as unattended decor.
Room-spray imagery from Ollie & Co.’s official Vancouver home-fragrance collection. Product photo: Ollie & Co. The brand also offers candles and reed diffusers.
Explore the Raincouver Collection discovery set and current choices
The next chapter is also something people can make
Ollie & Co.’s current public direction includes candle-making workshops, not just finished products. The official website links to its Eventbrite organizer page and describes workshops at Bentall Centre, 595 Burrard Street, Vancouver. The listings include themed sessions; readers should check dates, ticket availability, venue details and any age requirements directly.
That offers a different way to understand the brand. A finished candle is a keepsake, while a workshop can make the act of choosing and creating a scent part of the memory itself. It also gives Vancouver residents a reason to engage with the business beyond buying a gift for someone else.
The wider next chapter is already visible in the product range, destination-inspired gift sets and airport presence. The sources reviewed did not establish an announced new permanent storefront or a dated international expansion plan. Those should not be invented to make a small-business story feel larger. There is enough here already: a locally made product, a distinctive creative idea and opportunities for customers to participate.
Check Ollie & Co.’s current Vancouver candle-making workshop listings
How to discover and support Ollie & Co.
**Founder:** Jeannie Leung. **Based and made in:** Vancouver, British Columbia. **Official store:** theollieandco.com. **Public email:** info@ollieandco.ca, as displayed on the official product and contact pages. **Instagram:** @theollieandco. No public business phone number was verified for this feature.
Start with the official scent descriptions and current product pages, or ask the brand where to sample a fragrance locally. Use its linked listings for workshop bookings. Bentall Centre is a published workshop venue, not an address PRC has verified as a permanent Ollie & Co. retail store. The airport retail details are attributed to YVR’s May 2026 feature and should be reconfirmed for a planned purchase.
**Sources and photo credits:** This original feature draws on Ollie & Co.’s official About, product, collection, contact and workshop links, and YVR Airport’s May 21, 2026 founder video and Instagram feature. Sources were checked October 3, 2026. Product imagery is credited to Ollie & Co.’s own channels; video credit belongs to YVR Airport. No stock photographs, fabricated interview quotations, independently unverified sales figures or invented future openings are used. The wide hero is a crop of the brand’s product photograph.
Contact Ollie & Co. for stockists, products and workshop enquiries
Key takeaways
- Ollie & Co. is a Vancouver fragrance brand founded by Jeannie Leung after a lockdown candle-making hobby.
- Raincouver interprets a rainy seawall walk, while other scents reference destinations such as Tofino and Whistler.
- YVR’s May 2026 feature documented products at three airport retail locations, including Alpine Loft.
- The range includes candles, reed diffusers, room sprays, car fresheners and gift sets.
- The official website links to Vancouver candle-making workshops; confirm dates and booking details through the current listings.
- Shop and read current product details at theollieandco.com, and explore the business’s imagery at @theollieandco.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Ollie & Co. in Vancouver?
- Ollie & Co. is Jeannie Leung’s Vancouver home-fragrance and lifestyle brand. It offers hand-poured soy candles, reed diffusers, room sprays, car fresheners and gift sets inspired by scent, place and memory.
- Who founded Ollie & Co.?
- Jeannie Leung is identified as the founder in YVR Airport’s May 21, 2026 feature. The official brand story says the business grew from making candles for friends and family during lockdown.
- What does Raincouver smell like?
- The official Raincouver notes are patchouli, geranium, leaves, moss, incense and myrrh. Ollie & Co. describes it as an interpretation of a rainy walk along the seawall near Stanley Park in Vancouver.
- Are Ollie & Co. candles made in Vancouver?
- The official website says its candles are hand-poured in Vancouver using soy wax, phthalate-free fragrance and a lead-free cotton wick. These are the brand’s published specifications.
- Can I buy Ollie & Co. at Vancouver International Airport?
- YVR’s May 2026 founder feature reported products at three airport retail locations, including Alpine Loft in the International Terminal. Confirm current stock, shop location and terminal access before planning a purchase.
- Does Ollie & Co. offer candle-making workshops?
- Yes. The official website links to its Eventbrite organizer listings and describes Vancouver workshops at Bentall Centre, 595 Burrard Street. Check individual listings for current dates, availability and requirements.
- Which B.C.-inspired scents does Ollie & Co. offer?
- The current Raincouver Collection includes Raincouver, Granville Island, Tofino Storm Watching, Whistler Alpine Meadows and Victoria Beacon Hill Park. Formats and availability vary by product.
- How do I contact Ollie & Co. or find its Instagram?
- Use theollieandco.com and its contact form, or the public email info@ollieandco.ca. The official Instagram account is @theollieandco. No public business phone number was verified.
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