Mia Page of Laurel has been able to fulfill a portion of her dream, which is owning her own business.

Page officially opened a portion of her new business, M.P. Homemade Candle Shop.

Page said the new business, which is located at 1701 Susie B. Ruffin Ave., is designed to meet the needs of the people in the area.

The new owner said she hopes to be able to open up her own candle shop soon. Saturday, she officially opened up the snack food side of the business while she continues to work on getting the candle shop portion of the business ready for opening.

“We are trying to catch the end of the summer,” she said. “The snack portion of the business is geared toward the children. We have candy, bubble gum, nachos, ice cream, hot dogs, pickles and things children like.

“My goal is to open a business that is partially geared toward snacks and the other side of the business geared toward my candles,” she explained. “It’s really not much for children to do in this area, so I wanted to do something that meets the needs of the citizens in this neighborhood.”

Page said she bought the property in the 1700 block of Susie B. Ruffin Avenue about five years ago.

“I’ve just been working on this project and today this portion of it all came together,” she said with a smile as looked at her new business. “My family is helping me and I think everything is going to go well.”

Benita Simmons, Page’s sister-in-law, is helping to operate the food portion of the business, which will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Page said she hopes to open the remaining portion of her business by October.