Mineola’s Spiritual Starbucks

Since 2003, has occupied a unique retail niche in Mineola on Willis Avenue.

The neatly merchandised boutique offers an array of products – oils, perfumes, colognes, candles, incense, herbs and spell kits – all designed to “empower people,” according to proprietor Grace Esoterics.

A combination retailer and wholesaler, House of Grace also boasts a burgeoning online business. Esoterics likes to view the enterprise as “enlightening the evolutionary process of individual spiritual growth.”

Armed with a B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Business Management, Esoterics comes from a family of “clairvoyant and homeopathic, intuitive Afro-Caribbean women.” Her fraternal grandmother was an avid user of herbal remedies, while her maternal great grandmother was psychic intuitive “in her own eclectic way.” Esoterics drew her inspiration from her mother who ran a similar market in New York City, where the daughter learned the retail trade. A newspaper profile on her mother’s store dubbed it “The Spiritual Starbucks.”

In addition to carrying a slew of products, the Mineola store hosts tarot card readings ($50 for a 30-minute session) as well as “spell castings” and “spiritual cleansing” classes. Many customers use the spell castings to bring about good success, such as profits in a new business, or for love in a new relationship or fulfillment in their personal lives.

“I want the client to learn and be free to express their spiritual self, to put the power in their hands and they then can take it to the next level of wellness,” Esoterics said.

Sourced from importers in Europe, South and Central America, the store sells “spiritual products for your mind, body and soul.” Most of the products are sold under her “Esoterics” label, with instructions in both English and Spanish. “I make sure I find the best resource because the oil and perfume industry is not regulated,” she said.

The store caters to all religions as every religion has a spiritual side to it, she said.

“Too many people are hung up on the past. Too many times we forget to enjoy our spiritual walk,” she said. “As our paths lead us to our everlasting beginning, we are faced with many roads to choose from. But what good is it to get to a place that is meaningless to our own existence; we must first learn the meaning of life in order to accept our rightful place in the universal order.”