The Mill Office
Shipping, returns and the fine print, kept in good order.
Last updated: October 13, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Great Northern Candle Co. ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you visit or shop at thegncc.com, including our Great Northern Fragrance Co. collections and our Joy Diffusion Perfumes pages, or when you otherwise interact with us (together, the "Services").
Great Northern Fragrance Co., Great Northern Candle Co., and Joy Diffusion Perfumes are brands of the same small, independent studio in Portland, Oregon. They share one website, one checkout, one customer account system, and one set of mailing lists. This single Privacy Policy applies to all of them, and the same information practices apply no matter which collection you shop.
By using the Services, you acknowledge that your personal information will be handled as described in this Privacy Policy. If there is a conflict between this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service, this Privacy Policy controls for how we handle personal information.
The information we collect depends on how you use the Services. It may include:
Information you give us
Contact details, such as your name, email address, mobile phone number, billing address, and shipping address.
Order information, such as the products, sizes, scents, and quantities you buy, order notes, gift messages, and order history.
Payment information. Payments are processed by Shopify and our payment processors. We do not store your full card number. We may see limited details, such as the card type, the last four digits, and whether a payment succeeded.
Account information, such as your sign-in details, saved addresses, and preferences.
Marketing preferences, such as whether you have subscribed to our emails or text messages, and which collections you would like to hear about.
Messages and support requests, including emails, chat messages, and any details you include, such as scent preferences or questions about an order.
Reviews and photos that you choose to submit about our products.
Wholesale and business information, such as a shop name, business contact, and order details, if you buy from us as a retailer.
Information collected automatically
When you use the Services, we and the service providers that run our store automatically collect certain information. This includes your IP address, browser and device type, pages and products viewed, items added to your cart, referring website, approximate location based on your IP address, and dates and times of your visits. Much of this is collected using cookies, pixels, and similar technologies (see "Cookies and Similar Technologies" below).
Information from others
We may receive information about you from:
Shopify, which hosts our store and processes our checkout.
Sales and advertising channels connected to our store, such as Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google and YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and the Shop app. We may receive information when you shop with us through one of these channels or interact with our ads.
Wholesale platforms, such as Faire, if you are a retailer ordering from us.
Shipping carriers, such as delivery status updates.
We use personal information to:
Run the store and fill your orders: process payments, make and ship your products, send order and shipping updates, and handle returns, exchanges, and questions.
Manage your account, if you create one.
Communicate with you: respond to your messages and send you service messages about your orders or account.
Send marketing you've asked for: if you subscribe, send you emails and text messages about new releases, restocks, limited editions, events, and offers (see "Email and Text Message Marketing" below).
Run our rewards program: track points and rewards if you join our loyalty program.
Display reviews: collect and publish product reviews you choose to submit.
Improve the Services: understand which products and pages are useful, fix problems, and plan new products.
Advertise: show ads for our products on other websites and apps, including ads based on your activity on our store, subject to your choices (see "Your Rights and Choices" below).
Keep things secure: prevent fraud, misuse, and unauthorized access.
Meet legal obligations: comply with applicable laws, respond to lawful requests, and enforce our Terms of Service.
Email. If you subscribe to our emails through a signup form, at checkout, or when you sign in to your account, we use your email address to send you studio letters, product news, and offers from all of our brands. Our marketing emails are sent through Shopify Messaging. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of any marketing email. We may still send you non-marketing emails, such as order confirmations and shipping updates.
Text messages (SMS). If you choose to join our text message list, we collect your mobile phone number and your consent through the signup forms on our website or the text message opt-in checkbox at checkout. You do not have to agree to receive text messages to make a purchase.
We use your mobile number to send you recurring automated marketing text messages about new releases, restocks, limited editions, and offers from Great Northern Fragrance Co., Great Northern Candle Co., and Joy Diffusion Perfumes. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.
Your mobile number and consent record are stored with your customer profile on Shopify.
Our text messages are sent through Shopify Messaging. Your mobile number and message information are shared with Shopify, its messaging service providers, and wireless carriers only as needed to deliver messages and keep a record of your consent.
We do not sell, rent, or share your mobile number or your text message opt-in information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
You can opt out at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in each message. You can also reply HELP for help, or contact us using the details below.
Signup offers. If a signup offer requires you to be subscribed to email, text messages, or both, we use your subscription status to determine whether you qualify for that offer.
We do not sell your personal information for money. We share personal information only as described below:
Shopify. Our store is hosted by Shopify, which provides our website, checkout, payment processing, customer accounts, email and text messaging (Shopify Messaging), signup forms (Shopify Forms), and customer chat (Shopify Inbox). Shopify processes your information to provide these services to us. In addition, to help protect, grow, and improve our business, we use certain Shopify enhanced features that incorporate data from your interactions with our store, with other merchants, and with Shopify. In those cases, Shopify is responsible for processing your personal information, including responding to requests to exercise your rights over that use. To learn more, see the Shopify Consumer Privacy Policy. Depending on where you live, you may be able to exercise certain rights over this data through the Shopify Privacy Portal.
Service providers that help us run the business on our behalf, such as:
payment processors;
shipping carriers;
our product review provider (Judge.me);
our loyalty and rewards program provider;
our business email provider (Microsoft 365);
order-tracking and production tools we use to make and ship your order.
These providers may use your information only to provide services to us.
Advertising and sales channel partners, such as Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Google and YouTube, Pinterest, and TikTok. We share information with them to show our products, measure how our ads perform, and show you ads based on your activity on our store. These partners use information in accordance with their own privacy policies. Depending on where you live, this may be considered "sharing" or "targeted advertising," and you can opt out (see "Your Rights and Choices").
Wholesale platforms, such as Faire, to process and fill wholesale orders.
Public reviews. If you submit a review, your review, the name you choose to display, and any photos you include may be shown publicly on our website.
Legal and safety reasons. We may share information if we believe it is needed to comply with the law or a legal process, enforce our Terms of Service, prevent fraud, or protect the rights, property, or safety of our customers, our business, or others.
Business transfers. If our business is reorganized, merged, sold, or transferred, personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Privacy Policy.
With your direction or consent, such as when you ask us to send an order to a gift recipient.
We and our service providers use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to keep the store working (for example, to remember your cart and sign-in), to understand how the Services are used, and to support advertising. You can control cookies through our cookie banner, where available, and through your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may affect how the store works, such as keeping items in your cart.
If you visit with the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal turned on, then depending on where you are, we will treat it as a request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information and of targeted advertising for that browser and device. Other than GPC, we do not currently respond to "Do Not Track" signals.
The Services may link to other websites and platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and our Facebook VIP group. Those platforms are operated by others and have their own privacy policies. Information you post in public or group spaces on those platforms may be visible to others, and it is governed by that platform's policies, not this Privacy Policy.
We keep personal information for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. This includes filling and supporting your orders, maintaining our business, tax, and accounting records, and meeting legal requirements. When we no longer need information, we delete it or de-identify it.
If you unsubscribe from marketing, we keep a record of your opt-out so that we honor it.
We use reasonable safeguards, including the security provided by Shopify, to protect personal information. Checkout and payment information are handled by Shopify and our payment processors using encryption. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Please keep your account sign-in details private.
Depending on where you live, you may have some or all of the rights below. These rights may apply only in certain circumstances, and we may decline a request where the law allows.
Access and portability: ask what personal information we hold about you and receive a copy.
Correction: ask us to correct inaccurate information.
Deletion: ask us to delete your personal information.
Opt out of targeted advertising, sale, or sharing: you can opt out using our data sharing opt-out page or by turning on Global Privacy Control in your browser.
Marketing choices: unsubscribe from emails using the link in any marketing email. Opt out of texts using the unsubscribe link in any text message.
Appeal: if we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our response.
To make a request, email us at courtney@thegncc.com. To protect your information, we may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, for example by asking you to confirm details from an order. You may use an authorized agent where the law allows, and we may ask for proof of the agent's authority. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.
The Services are intended for adults and are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.
We are based in the United States, and our store currently sells to customers in the United States. Shopify and our service providers may process and store information in the United States and other countries, where data protection laws may differ from those where you live.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our practices or to the law. When we do, we will post the updated version on this page and change the "Last updated" date above. Where required by law, we will notify you of material changes.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, or would like to exercise your rights, please contact us:
Great Northern Candle Co.
(Great Northern Fragrance Co. and Joy Diffusion Perfumes)
Email: courtney@thegncc.com
Mail: PO Box 19051, Portland, OR 97280
