A store with no tarot..

I was a bit excited because I found out a new store had come to my tiny town . Finally - a real metaphysical store !!! Then I went for a visit , and ooops- no tarot. There were some oracle decks ,angels, faeries, etc. , but no tarot. Just one or two tarot books . I was depressed . I was a stranger in a strange land . I got the impression something was being avoided . Oh well.

Does this happen elsewhere too ? New Age stores with no tarot ? And why , do you think ?

I would inquire as to why the presence of Tarot books but no decks. It may be due to finances since carrying Tarot decks requires an investment that a fledgeling store may not be able to afford. &/or due to high theft.

A local Waldenbooks said the latter reason was why the Tarot deck stock [very] limited. I also think the interest is in the higher volume sales, hence the emphasis on 'the best sellers' in books & those publications seen as with a quick turnover.

The local headshop, The Heritage Store, loosely affiliated with The A.R.E. (Association for Research & Enlightenment that preserves the Edgar Cayce psychic readings) consistently carries the broadest selection in both Tarot decks & Tarot books as well as the harder to find metaphysical publications. It also maintains demo decks; however, I think it also has a problem with theft of Tarot decks.

Dark Inquisitor said:

Does this happen elsewhere too ? New Age stores with no tarot ? And why , do you think ?

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You are lucky to have a metaphysical store in your town.

Here, we dont even have that. Just huge bookshops where there is nothing occult related..

My nearest meta shop is a ten minute bus journey away. It's run by a wonderful lady, a shaman no less, who carries an incredible stock of weird & wonderful stuff ! Quite a lot of tarot decks, books etc, aswell as crystals, herbs, incense, witchy stuff, oracles etc. She can get you just about anything you want, & very quickly too ! I think I am so lucky to have found her & her shop, it had been there a year before I found it & funnily enough I came across it just as I was getting back to tarot & trying to become a more spiritual person. I am thrilled that we have such a fantastic shop only a few minutes away.

In the same town there is another so-called "new-age" shop which sells nothing apart from weird gadgets like pens that nasa uses or drinking games. I have yet to find anything even faintly meta in it ! So, you never know, keep your fingers crossed & the new store in your town might build upto be an amazing place, go in & make friends with the owners & find out what their plans are.xx

redflash said:

My nearest meta shop is a ten minute bus journey away. It's run by a wonderful lady, a shaman no less, who carries an incredible stock of weird & wonderful stuff !

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Sounds like a fabulous place - just the sort I was hoping for ! Don't you think a metaphysical store should have some kind of interesting mojo going for it , so to speak ? At this point, there is nothing for me to return to that store for . I did talk to the owner , and she basically changed the subject .

Maybe it will build up and develop into something more later on , but right now I think it will bite the metaphysical dust . It's pretty bland . I wonder if just the presence of tarot decks might add an interesting luster to a location? I always got the impression when I walked by the locked tarot case at one of the big chain stores that was packed full, that it was like a big energized battery .

Though it was always funny to watch the fearful reactions of some of the clerks and passersby to anyone who was looking into it.

I don't have any metaphysical stores near me but when I go on holiday to Wales there is an amazing one I visit. A few years ago she started with just the LoScarabeo decks but this last year she seems to have gone into all the publishers, if its new - she'll probably have it in. Plus she's also opened another shop, a bigger version of the first shop, in the same town and they offer tarot readings.

I like going in there - she's a tarot reader and we've had some interesting conversations.

I wish I had a shop like that near me.

This may be just a bit off topic.

Being intesely interested in or rather addicted to tarot I thought most everyone out there would also be at least curious about it , right? Wrong

I was surprised to learn that lots of people out there do not see eye to eye. They think that buying, learning and aquiring tarot decks is in fact a waste of time and money.

A few times I gave away some beautiful tarot decks for people who just didn't care about them "I do not know where I placed them". . . .

They need to be introduced to this forum .

redflash said:

In the same town there is another so-called "new-age" shop which sells nothing apart from weird gadgets like pens that nasa uses or drinking games.

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That's all we've got in our town centre too in the way of new age. There's a tiny incense and oils section, but apart from that it's mostly psychedlic wristcuffs and backpacks shaped like coffins. Euch.

I went to Tintagel in Cornwall the other week though and that was amazing. Every shop there stocked cards and crystals etc.

MeeWah said:

I would inquire as to why the presence of Tarot books but no decks. It may be due to finances since carrying Tarot decks requires an investment that a fledgeling store may not be able to afford. &/or due to high theft.

A local Waldenbooks said the latter reason was why the Tarot deck stock [very] limited. I also think the interest is in the higher volume sales, hence the emphasis on 'the best sellers' in books & those publications seen as with a quick turnover.

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Tarot decks are very small items; easier to pocket. Theft must be a big enough issue as it has resulted in one company, U.S. Games, I believe, offering larger package versions of originary size deck-and-LWB tarot decks, that make it more difficult for would-be shoplifters to pocket the deck.

Perhaps they are trying to hard to not to offend? Angels and faeries are always seen as safe and even fluffy (wrongly IMHO!), so its safer to start off with them so as not to upset locals who might be sensitive to anything "occult" or with a suggestion of darkness...which tarot has a rep for as many at AT seem to have found!

Or as a new business maybe they are just starting to build relationships with suppliers and can only get certain items at the moment?

A lot of new age or pagan shops don't last long around here...not due to any dramatic protests, just, well, apathy. I guess the internet has so much choice and often low low prices, it must be hard for a new store to compete.