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Author Topic: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?  (Read 4818 times)

Aranel

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #15 on: March 30, 2015, 05:09:26 pm »
Quote from: Ghost235;173569
This might not quite be what was intended but here it is.

I'd like for my perfect pagan store to sell hot tea and have comfy couches so people can not only buy stuff(and they should buy stuff) but also gather with other Pagans for "coffee talk".

My favorite Pagan stores(and the ones that I spent STUPID amounts of money at) had exactly that.

 
In town there used to be a second hand bookshop that had lots of sofas and free coffee, tea and hot chocolate (you made it yourself and you cleaned up after yourself).

I used to spend hours in there and I spent loads.

It closed down and it's now been replaced with a new age shop which I hate. About 80% of the stock is tie-dye clothing and half of the rest is crystals. Then some incense, jewellery, ridiculously overpriced tarot cards (they want £30 for a deck of the Original Rider Waite. Just the deck. The RRP is under £14 but it's not printed on the box so they can get away with it. ), candles, and 101 books. It's awful.

Don't think I've got anything to add to what people have already listed for things in a pagan shop.

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #16 on: March 30, 2015, 05:15:05 pm »
Quote from: Ghost235;173569
This might not quite be what was intended but here it is.

I'd like for my perfect pagan store to sell hot tea and have comfy couches so people can not only buy stuff(and they should buy stuff) but also gather with other Pagans for "coffee talk".

My favorite Pagan stores(and the ones that I spent STUPID amounts of money at) had exactly that.  

Also small bowls, very old things, and stuff from extremely obscure types of Paganism so that I can get turned on to ideas that I would have never have heard about otherwise.
Treadwell's Pagan bookshop, in London, is exactly like this. They host discussions in a comfy basement and they have sofas upstairs in the bookshop (where they encourage you to sit and read the books!) Aside from the fact that they don't sell much in the way of supplies, I think Treadwell's is pretty close to being my perfect Pagan shop. They put quality above quantity in everything they do.*

*Note: I am not affiliated with Treadwell's. But I wish I was!
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Ghost235

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #17 on: April 01, 2015, 10:06:03 pm »
Quote from: Naomi J;173593
Treadwell's Pagan bookshop, in London, is exactly like this. They host discussions in a comfy basement and they have sofas upstairs in the bookshop (where they encourage you to sit and read the books!) Aside from the fact that they don't sell much in the way of supplies, I think Treadwell's is pretty close to being my perfect Pagan shop. They put quality above quantity in everything they do.*

*Note: I am not affiliated with Treadwell's. But I wish I was!

 
Oddly enough I have been to Treadwell's.  When I go to London I make it a point to go.  When I made that post I was thinking of a mix between Treadwell's and a shop in Birmingham, Alabama.  Also the place next door has pretty good food.

Sefiru

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #18 on: April 02, 2015, 06:45:57 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;173475


So: what would your perfect pagan store sell?


That little thing I didn't know I needed until I saw it :)

Dollhouse miniatures, especially model food -- great for small shrines and offerings.
Short-stick incense (there's only one store around here that sells it)
A good selection of herbal teas. Real ones, not hibiscus+"natural flavors".
Doing special orders on books.
Pagan periodicals.
Nice brooms and staves, for those who use them.
Robes, or patterns for ritual clothing.
Pagan-themed toys, stuffed animals, children's books.

... I didn't think that list would get so long until I started writing it.
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Cinder

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #19 on: April 19, 2017, 02:56:45 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;173475
So: what would your perfect pagan store sell?


I have two pagan-centered stores close enough to drive to, and this list is based on what I found lacking in both:

  • Bigger square footage. More room equals more diversity.
  • Shrine cabinets or an agreement with the local woodworking shop/club to build you a custom shrine. It can be really hard to find exactly what you want/need, and not everyone can build it themselves.
  • A bigger diversity in classes then meditation, feel-good "negativity is the only thing in your way!" type stuff, etc.
  • Sort of on that note: a better ability to communicate with other pagans in your area in a safe, public space.
  • Fresh plants rather than just dried herbs.
  • More diversity in pantheons/paths catered to. Not knocking those who have use in them, but the same fairy/angel/Buddha things get old after a while.

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #20 on: April 20, 2017, 06:26:06 am »
Quote from: Aranel;173592
In town there used to be a second hand bookshop that had lots of sofas and free coffee, tea and hot chocolate (you made it yourself and you cleaned up after yourself).

I used to spend hours in there and I spent loads.


The local hospice runs a bookstore just like that, separate from their general donation shop. My family has spent a small fortune there; as most books are 50p a pop, you can imagine how many we've got over the years.

OT: I still have use for pagan shops because I have a serious addiction to candles and I can't get all the variety I want in mainstream places. (Seriously, merchant-people. Display your candles like yarn balls - a full wall covered in cubbyholes, arranged by colour. I'll be keeping you solvent single-handed.)

Also, resin incense and accessories (suitable burners, sand and charcoal). Sticks are nice - only Maroma and Anne Stokes, please - but I'm grateful if I don't have to order the proper liturgical stuff online.

Lastly, my biggest hankering: fresh food-grade herbs and flowers. What is a girl to do to score some uncontaminated rose petals or violets to candy? If you throw in a variety of tree leaves for my deco projects, I'd be one happy camper.
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Demophon

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #21 on: April 27, 2017, 07:49:04 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;173475
So: what would your perfect pagan store sell?

 
I'm definitely on board with non-standard statuary.

Quote from: Chatelaine;205213
OT: I still have use for pagan shops because I have a serious addiction to candles and I can't get all the variety I want in mainstream places. (Seriously, merchant-people. Display your candles like yarn balls - a full wall covered in cubbyholes, arranged by colour. I'll be keeping you solvent single-handed.)


I still go to a pagan store for beeswax candles because they have a variety of sizes and even colours, and the prices are decent. I love beeswax candles, and the fewer paraffin ones I use, the better.

Riothamus12

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #22 on: June 03, 2017, 09:00:37 pm »
So: what would your perfect pagan store sell?

-Incenses and various items that may be offered.

-Altar cloths, affordable, but durable and well made statues.

-Candles

-Ritual tools and garments beyond the standard kinds. Also something I could use as a sturdy, but affordable altar.

-Ritual garments, accessories, and so forth.

-BOOKS! Preferably not 101 stuff and more focused on theology and philosophy. Preferably with a reconstructionist section. I am not a purist of any sort, but I like to be able to see what each of my influences are like as independents pathways. Also something about dealing with the shadow side of existence that doesn't conflate dealing with the stuff and satan or evil. I am not a satanist and for once I'd like to see more stuff that focuses on the outwardly grim or frightening aspects without shoehorning him in.

-Non-Appropriative sources and items for working with tutelary beasts/guiding animal spirits.

-Possibly a section for pagan friendly media. Fiction, films, music, and so forth. Music is fairly easy to find on the internet, but hard to locate in one area. Film and fiction is significantly harder.
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Oskar

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2017, 05:36:40 am »
Well, having any pagan shop nearby would be great to begin with. The New Age shops that prevail never have anything I want. Too many Buddhas and crystals. :/

Also, if they stocked oak and elm and ash and willow and all those traditional European woods, I would be pretty happy, because those are hard to find in Australia. Could be branches or disks to turn into runes or whatever. It's not that Australian native woods don't do any good, but they don't always work as substitutes.

Anyway. I think that's about it. There is a dearth of pagan shops in Australia, so I buy more online than I would if I had a shop to go to instead. All I have are thousands of Buddhas and crystals and other New Age stuff. :/

I agree, my small country town also only has the New Age variety of supplies and my pewter Brigit's Knot had to come all the way from the UK. European woods would be so good to get hold of like Birch and Rowan for example. 

Dynes Hysbys

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2017, 06:17:18 am »
Something lighthearted to play with, really.

So I went out to try to snag ritual supplies today from the pagan/estoteric/new age shop downtown, and they had none of

So: what would your perfect pagan store sell?

This is a hard one - the only thing that passes for a pagan store locally just sells paganish tat - nasty little plastic unicorns, tumble stones and cheap dream catcher sort of stuff.

I'm trying to think what I last bought from a pagan store and I'm struggling. Almost everything I use I find or make myself so if I do need something to make cords then I'll go to a haberdasher. No general pagan store would have the same degree of choice.

I would like some herbs but the ones I need to buy are the more obscure ones that I can't grow or gather myself. These would not be the popular ones so turnover would be low and freshness a problem.  Also shop owners tend to be squeamish about selling the more toxic ones - I am currently trying to track down henbane as my own crop this year has failed and I'm pretty much out.

My cauldrons (not a pentagram or goddess symbol in sight) came from a few lucky finds and an auction house but my tiny one I did buy from a large store on a visit to Los Angeles.  I've yet to find a small plain one in the UK so that would be a good line from my point of view.

I don't use crystals other than those I pick up myself so stones and rocks are out. There is a specific sea urchin fossil I'm after but it's not the sort of thing you'd find in a general pagan store. Same with ritual tools. I either make my own or commission a bespoke one from a local maker so I get exactly what I want - I'm about to commission an iron plate cauldron.

I would buy Nag Champa incense sticks :)

Books - yes in theory but I tend to buy books on history and folklore rather than pagan or magical topics. I find more of value to my practice in them.

I think I've concluded from this that I am a pagan store's worst customer. Not having one nearby has taught me to do without and as I get older I find that the lure of "stuff" is getting much less. Less is definitely becoming more for me now so I guess what I'd really like is a pagan store that would sell my "stuff" for me for a % commission!

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Re: So What Would Your Ideal Pagan Store Carry?
« Reply #25 on: June 04, 2017, 03:50:16 pm »
-BOOKS! Preferably not 101 stuff and more focused on theology and philosophy. Preferably with a reconstructionist section. I am not a purist of any sort, but I like to be able to see what each of my influences are like as independents pathways. Also something about dealing with the shadow side of existence that doesn't conflate dealing with the stuff and satan or evil. I am not a satanist and for once I'd like to see more stuff that focuses on the outwardly grim or frightening aspects without shoehorning him in.

My mum ran a little occult shop for a while and choosing what books to stock was something I insisted on being involved in. I wanted solid above-101-level shit on the shelves. Nobody ever bought that stuff, but dammit it was there.

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