Phoenix Rising Metaphysical Emporium is a community oriented shop specializing in sustainably harvested crystals and stones of all shapes and sizes, meditation aids, Pagan decor, spell crafting, Curiosities, hand crafted ritual supplies, rarities and one of a kind locally crafted items. They carry everything from basic stones and ingredients to oddities and rare gems. The store has been open since 2015 and has have quickly become a hub for people of all kinds of beliefs. It’s more than a store, they offer reiki, distance reiki, reiki for pets, mediumship, tarot reading and so much more.
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: We buy from so many local businesses. Most of our suppliers are Canadian. Many are from B.C., and a couple are from back east. We sell products from more than 140 local artists, it’s about 75% of our inventory, so a lot of what we sell is local and handcrafted. For instance, we sell Jewelry from Whisper Jewels and sprays and essential oils from Gabriel’s Light Wellness & Healing Elixers . Our crystals are from all over the globe but about 10-15% of them are from Canada. Some types of stones you can’t get here. Other items we sell are fair traded from elsewhere. For example, we have items made by women in India who can’t get work otherwise so they make things out of their old saris. We are a member of the Authentic Indigenous Act and we sell sage, fans and other local indigenous products from Derek White Skycloud and a few others as well.
We use as many local service providers as we can. Eighty-five percent of our suppliers are B.C. companies, and another give percent at Canadian. Our insurance is from Godoy’s Insurance in Langley. Our signage is done through Balkan Signs in Langley. Our bags and other retail items are from Eddie’s Hang-Up Display Ltd. Our accountant is an independent person in Osoyoos. We buy our soaps and cleaning supplies Health. Your Life. Our Passion. We buy laundry soap from This Is It across the street.
We also do a lot of cross promotions with our neighbour businesses. Our staff wear yoga wear from Evolution Pilates and Yoga down the street. Our furniture is from a local artist who works with wood – the shelving, cutlery, the counters. A lot of our stones are in baskets or cups – they all come from Penny Pincher Thrift store – it’s a store where all of their proceeds go to Langley Memorial Hospital.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: We’re proud to be a good employer. We pay a living wage and the owners make the same as the staff. We provide flexible hours, and give some paid days off. We do deep discounts for our staff. When we can, the staff get a bonus to thank them for working so hard. We normally do staff events for team building – we are working on putting on a physically distant event right now actually. We often provide lunches or coffee for the staff when it’s super busy. We want to make sure our staff feel important to us because they are! They are more than staff, they are family.
We donate to ta lot of local causes and charities. We donate to the food bank once a month. We make donations to all the local schools and other groups that send a request. A lot of our artists got together recently to donate to Black Lives Matter and the food bank.
We do ethical sourcing. All our herbs are locally harvested or in we get them from their country of origin (where the plant is native and grows naturally). For example, the sweetgrass we get grows in Alberta just past the Rockies, so that’s where we buy it from, no where else. We make sure we buy stones that are harvested without child labour and where everybody gets a fair wage. We were one of the first stores in Langley who supported artists as a collective. We currently have 141 artists – we offer our shelf space to up and coming artists. We either sell them in store, we do commissions, profile them on social media and we do a give back day for any interested artist where they sell their items out front and keep all the proceeds.
On the environmental side, we buy 100% recyclable bags and compostable plastics when we have to. All our staff are local – some of them even walk to work, so there’s no carbon footprint for our commuting. We pay extra for our gas so we get the green gas. We offset our carbon footprint in various ways when we’re importing and exporting. We plant trees. Instead of our customers taking a plastic bag, we encourage a bag-less culture, and we’ll donate to a local charity of their choice (saving bees, trees or seas).
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