No matter what spiritual path you are on, New Moon Spiritual Gift Emporium, will likely have something that will help you on the journey.
The owners of New Moon Spiritual Gift Emporium believe there are many paths to a spiritual life. Their new store encourages exploration of whatever path you have chosen.
The store at 730 E. Cork St. opened Oct. 1 and August Hesse, one of the two co-owners of the shop that carries New Age books, gifts, and apparel says the reception has been better than they anticipated. "We've exceeded the goals of our optimistic business plan," Hesse says.
He and co-owner Magena Reusch opened the new store in the 3,500-square-foot space that they chose for its location in Kalamazoo within close proximity to Portage.
The store has more 10,000 books that he and Reush will keep refreshed. Customers will find crystals, rocks, and jewelry, tarot cards. CDs, DVDs and apparel. New Moon also has space for practitioners who offer workshops or meet with clients. Currently the shop has six practitioners who provide such services as massage, reiki, bodywork, and similar practices.
"We may add a few more," Hesse says. "We want to make sure they are going to be providing quality services and that people are going to like them."
Hesse's decision to become a co-owner of a New Age bookstore grew out of his dissatisfaction with his own spiritual path. He was living in Santa Fe, N.M. and working as a creator of apps for Apple's iPhone. The job kept him busy 85 hours a week, and though it was lucrative, he knew it was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
He began to research where he should move to and of the many places he examined, Kalamazoo had what he was looking for: It was a small city with a big city feel, culture, and was a college town.
"I could live wherever I want to and I looked at two dozen other places," Hesse says. "Kalamazoo beat out every other community I looked at." He felt that way even though he's lived in seven different places.
One of the draws was Western Michigan University, where he enrolled when he first came to town. At that point he was pursuing further education in business. It was the tail end of the housing bust, and Hesse found rental properties he could buy as an investment with the discretionary income created by the app he created.
Magena Reusch was one of the first tenants he signed on when he became a landlord and they quickly found they worked well together as business partners as she helped him rehab his other properties.
She also was the one who told him to not buy any more rental properties. Instead they decided to pursue the idea of the New Age bookstore that "fit both of our temperaments," Hesse says.
They visited Choices Unlimited in Portage and Shamanic Vine on Sprinkle Road -- two area stores who serve similar customers -- and found there was space in the market for the type of retail business they wanted to create.
"We plan to be here for 25 years. That's why we bought the building instead of leasing it," Hesse says.
One of the guiding principles of the store is that it be inclusive. That's why books about Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism are found along with those on Wicca, shamanism and pagan religions.
The store also will be sponsoring a number of events, including classes and workshops each month, some of which are paid and some of which are offered at no cost. Hesse says he expects that about half of the events will be free.
In keeping with the times, the store will have an online presence by mid-November, but the two owners emphasize their passion is serving customers face to face.
Reush is 23 and Hesse is 30 so they have found that she often can relate to the younger customers while he relates to older customers. They have hired part-time staff for the store that is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Christmas day, but Hesse says that he and Reush believe it is important that one or the other of them be available to customers.
As much as possible, one of them is always at the store when it is open. In the first month of operation they were able to hold to that practice for all but one day when they both needed to be at a sale to acquire merchandise for New Moon.
Customers also have told them they have found prices in the store to be very reasonable. Hesse says that pricing merchandise at the lowest cost they can and still remain in business, rather than at the highest price they think customers will pay is another core value he and Reush share.
Keeping materials and events affordable is important because that's how spiritual awareness spreads, Hesse says.
Kathy Jennings is the managing editor of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave. She is a freelance writer and editor.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.