I wanted to love this shop so much, and when I first moved here, I visited it constantly. Over the years, I've seen a lot of stuff happen here that concerns me. One of the managers, Viliam, cases customers and will tell employees to watch them as they shop in case they steal something -- these people are often POC. The owner, John, is a bit of a diva who comes in to let customers fawn over him every now and again. He's middle-aged and has regularly dated much younger men, at least a few of whom were under 18. The magical practitioners they've invited into the shop to offer psychic services or magical items (e.g., spell candles) are some of the most petty, judgmental, immature, and needlessly suspicious people I've met, which isn't clear at first but becomes clear by the third or fourth conversation you have with them. This kind of stuff wouldn't normally be relevant except that these people are supposedly selling spiritual wellness as their product, and I find these people constantly behaving in ways that seem antithetical to the role they play in the Richmond spiritual community. Not everyone who works there carries on this way, some folks are lovely (a few of the readers, many of the retail staff)...but the folks who are in charge and who are the face of the business are pretty awful.
Inside the shop, which is ostensibly a bookshop, books make up about 15% of what's sold there. There are a lot of cheap, poor quality, and questionably sourced products (they have no real idea where their crystals come from and whether or not they're responsibly mined; the herbs and oils are bought in bulk and kept on the shelf for ages). There's a lot of cultural appropriation going on in store, particularly as it relates to First Nations spiritual practices and chakra methodologies. They're operating from a 60s/70s New Age understanding and have not upgraded to the 21st century, where the rest of us are trying to mindfully approach spiritual practice without throwing around words like "shaman" and "smudging" irresponsibly.
All in all, I want to love this place. I want to be able to walk in more often and take in the incense and oil smells, flip through the books, enroll in a class or two, and enjoy the company of like-minded folk. But in general, I don't feel safe doing that. The energy is too mixed, and you never know if you're going to get a dose of the good stuff or the bad stuff. I've resigned myself to buying my products elsewhere because going here just doesn't feel good anymore. I hope that the shop sticks around because it's an institution, but I deeply hope it either comes under different ownership/management or that the folks currently in charge decide to step it up and be generally better human beings with a stronger business ethic. read more