Upon first entering this shop that was packed with immaculate gems of all different varieties, I was greeted by the bright lights reflecting off the hundreds of crystals and bumping dance music coming from the register in the back. I immediately knew I found my go-to store for crystals (after endlessly rummaging through the dark caves of various occult shops). After getting acquainted with the owner and his assistant, I felt more at ease amongst the fragile glass cases and amethyst geodes that lined the floor. Unfortunately, my ecstatic experience soon turned extremely rotten.
I had asked to see a few of the black tourmaline chunks that were protected in one of the many glass cases, but was not too enticed by the price tag on them. Granted, some of the items in this store were completely affordable, some even the cheapest I had ever seen. However, not too long after this, the assistant suggested that the owner show me the black tourmaline pendants in the jewelry section of the store. I had informed both of them that I was not interested in jewelry, but the owner insisted I look anyway (as most individual business owners would do, I'm sure). He took out a green tourmaline pendant, to which I immediately informed him that I was only interested in black tourmaline. Instead, he insisted I take a closer look at the pendant (that I was clearly NOT interested in). Within a couple of seconds of me taking the pendant by the string (the way he handed it to me), the pendant fell to the floor and broke in two. In utter disbelief, I looked at the string that the pendant fell from, and it had clearly not been tied. There was no break in the string, and it didn't look as if it had ever been tied. The owner was quick to place the blame on me, claiming that the string was securely tied when he handed it to me, and I must have carelessly done something to allow the pendant to fall and break. He then places the broken pendant on the jewelry pillow (where he should have placed the pendant in the first place), and remains stubborn in his decision that it was obviously my fault that the string was not tied securely, and that I had to pay for this $100 pendant (which, if you are not familiar with green tourmaline, is NOT worth that much for a pendant smaller than an inch). I admitted that I was not able to afford to pay for this pendant, as I am a college student struggling to pay for rent and groceries, and was only planning on spending a maximum of $30 in his store. The owner refused to sympathize, and continued to stubbornly repeat "you break it, you buy it". After arguing for a solid 15-20 minutes, I ended up in tears and had to leave the shop after my friend offered to pay $50 for the broken pendant in order to make the heated situation dissolve.
Looking back, I wholeheartedly believe we should have immediately walked out of the store, however your outlook becomes completely skewed when you are attempting to remain calm while being coaxed by a greedy business owner. My favorite part of my experience; when the assistant offered to cleanse the broken pendant with white sage after my friend decided to pay for it. You're going to need a lot more than a small smudging to erase the greedy and heartless situation that occurred in your place of establishment that night. After our situation was "resolved", the owner informed me that a woman (although he referred to her as "a bitch") had come in the day previous to this, and broke an entire wall of crystals and was forced to pay for them. If this is true, and people are supposedly damaging your items this frequently, perhaps you should think about investing in more secure cases, or maybe not coax people into paying for things they clearly had no responsibility over. I would not recommend anyone to shop or even browse in this store, as you may fall victim of a crime you did not commit. read more