The bell on the door chimes as I step inside Kindred Spirits, escaping a bizarrely warm 80-degree day in late October. When contrasted with the heat and traffic of Water Street, the herbal smells and soothing music inside Kindred Spirits is especially calming. I’m here to chat with store owner June Rose, who is all smiles when given the opportunity to discuss her beloved New Age shop.
Owner June Rose welcomes customers to Kindred Spirits Crystals, Books & Gifts with a smile. Kindred Spirits, which Rose opened nearly a decade ago, is located at 66 W. Water Street in Hellertown.
New Age spirituality began growing in popularity in the 1970s. With its profession that spirituality is a deeply personal experience that no outside force should define, New Age stores aim to provide the materials and space for all individuals to pursue spiritual wholeness without condemnation or guidelines. June’s store is no exception; with its bouquets of incense sticks, dangling dreamcatchers and assorted books, there is something for everyone.
During a break in foot traffic, I ask June about Kindred Spirits, which is approaching its tenth anniversary serving Hellertown and the Lehigh Valley. For June, Kindred Spirits is the realization of a dream that began many years ago.
“I was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,” she explains. “When I was twenty-nine-and-a-half, I moved out to the midwest because my best friend was moving there and I didn’t want to be in Pennsylvania without him. I lived there for 10 years, and there was a New Age store nearby called Renaissance Books and Gifts. When I went in there, I felt so comfortable—like my spirit was at ease. I started saying, from the first day I walked in there, ‘I want to have my own new age store.’ I said that for 15 years.”
Though June’s studies led her outside of Pennsylvania, the dream to have her own store traveled with her—as well as her desire to return to her home state.
“I was teaching out in Missouri and felt this nudge to come home, so I got a job teaching English as a second language at Lehigh University. In 2013, I was sitting with some coworkers in an office downstairs, and they asked me, ‘What’s your dream job?’ and I said ‘I want to have a New Age store in Hellertown.’”
The vision for Kindred Spirits stayed with June through her travels and various jobs, but a series of challenges proved to be the catalyst for its creation.
“In December of 2014, I got fired from Lehigh three days before Christmas,” June explains to me. “My sister had passed in the fall semester, and my mom passed away the following summer. I had applied to a job at Lafayette but wasn’t accepted due to health problems I was facing. I found myself at the bottom. It was like every Disney movie where all that tragedy starts the journey. I didn’t know what to do next, so I did a mind map—and on the bottom left of the map, I put down ‘New Age store.’ So I started looking for properties. This building I have now—my offer for it cleared on the anniversary of my mom’s death.”
With the opportunity to make her dream a reality, June poured herself into changing the former H&R Block office on Water Street into Kindred Spirits, the New Age shop she’d always envisioned. This involved not only making physical alterations, but also creating an online store for customers. Even after Kindred Spirits opened to the public, June continued modifying it. When I was last in her shop eight years ago, the layout was noticeably different; a partition divided the room, various knickknacks were for sale and a beige paint coated the building’s exterior. Now, June’s fingerprints are everywhere, with crystals turning prismatic in the sunshine and a rich purple color covering the plain walls that once faced Water Street.
For June, Kindred Spirits is her way of helping and connecting with others. “I really like to advocate for people who aren’t mainstream, for people who are on the sidelines, marginalized groups or minorities, and with religion and spirituality it’s very personal. I really believe in the First Amendment, freedom of religion and expression. I want to be an oasis for people who are spiritual but not religious,” she says. June emphasizes to me that her store is one of support and openness, not exclusion: “I’m open to everyone’s spiritual paths, even if it’s not a path I walk myself.”
Having owned Kindred Spirits for close to a decade, June now gets to offer to others the same comforts she discovered many years ago at Renaissance Books. Most importantly, she does so within Hellertown and surrounding communities, for which she has had a long-standing fondness.
Designed to welcome people of all backgrounds, Kindred Spirits is the perfect one-stop shop for anyone seeking to grow in spirituality— or simply have a friendly conversation with Pennsylvania native June Rose. You can get to know Kindred Spirits at one of their many upcoming events, which include a Magickal Market day at the Carriage House and a Harry Potter Christmas Dinner at Braveheart Highland Pub.
