Brass Unicorn Inc — Attraction in Fresno

The reality of our world today is that anyone can more easily find what they want to buy online. It’s more convenient. It’s often times even cheaper.

The benefit of visiting and spending money at small businesses is to support community. Even if it’s not your own community. With metaphysical shops, one of the first things folks will tell you if you are looking for community and wish to step outside of your solitary circle is to visit/shop at local metaphysical shops. This is typically a great first step towards meeting likeminded folks, connecting with potential groups and teachers, and learning about spiritual/magical classes and events.

With this in mind, it’s quite obvious why folks would go out of their way to shop at places like this is for the people - the connections - the exchange of energy. So, you’d think you’d make sure that the people working in such places would be kind, warm-spirited, outgoing, and overall - friendly. This was not my experience with any of the apparent three employees working at Brass Unicorn.

Especially the elder woman with the round glasses.

I went out of my way to provide topics and bits of information that she could’ve picked up on and opened up friendly discussion on (like: we are visiting from Canada, what ring did she prefer, etc.) Instead, she acted like a know-it-all snob - only really speaking to me to correct my pronunciation of certain crystal/mineral names.

After entering the store, I made a b-line for the books. I was in the western esotericism/ceremonial magick section. The shop lady came over to my husband and I and mumbled something about a good beginner witchcraft book. Annoyed, we simply smiled and kindly thanked her for her “recommendation”. Obviously this example focuses on my ego, being a 40-ish practicing witch for the last 20 years. But, it’s strange practice for any employee to make assumptions like this.

She was also very good at making snide comments towards me and my husband, and staring us down in a manner that implies she suspected us of shoplifting. (We didn’t do anything to insinuate this, and we believe looked very presentable.) The lady seemed restless with the fear of anyone being in the store - as it seems she assumes everyone are shoplifters, (even though there are security tags on seemingly everything in the store - aside from the $0.85 chime candles).

With a store selling goods to spiritual people, one can assume customers would be sensitive to energies - especially off-putting, awkward energy like the kind we experienced. I won’t be going out of my way to travel to some shady area of Fresno to go here again. I’d rather order from Bezos than subject myself to such strange and awkward...

I am a new comer to the metaphysical arena, and was looking to find a store to fill my interest. When searching on google the brass unicorn is really the only place i found within my range that offers metaphysical supplies. After i had read the review about how that person was racially profiled i was even more anxious to go, to see for myself. I am a mexican-american and am also medium toned, but my mother is very light skinned. I took my mother to show her what the new age is about. Sadly, the google user who wrote about being racially profiled was not wrong in my opinion. Since we first entered the store, i began to get strange looks from the girl behind the counter with dreads. To my surprise this nice little shop had alot more than i expected it to have, so it is sad that i found them very disrespectful in the manner they welcomed us. I am a proud mexican and my mother only speaks spanish so i was not ashamed to communicate to her in our native tounge. The girl behind the counter looked very uncomfortable at our communication, but i made it known i did not care to please her. While i was looking at the items inside the counter she, in an annoyed tone asked us, "is there something specific you are looking for..?" i felt this was her way of telling me the sooner we left the better. But i was entranced with so much to look at, and wandered at ease. Her glare at us never really let up, but i did my best to look oblivious to her very NEGATIVE VIBE. I now wonder whether she disliked me because i was not dressed in the proper apparel a new ager should be accustomed to...you know dreads and tyedyed things...there were two other women in the store. One skinny beautiful looking young thing, she sadly also always gave us a snobby smirk the whole time. And another woman that knew spanish. She and my mother talked and she continued to follow us throughout the store maintaining a conversation with my mother. I cant help but wonder whether this was intentional, for when she had left us alone in the room with the candles, the skinny one "casually" happened to stroll by every now and then. Altogether none of them, besides the spanish speaking one, made us really feel welcome. On the contrary they even made it seem difficult for themselves to smile. Overall i would have to say it is a nice little place, but you should try getting new employees that are not RACIST. I do not find racial profiling in accordance with what governs spiritual people, so learn to love an accept or find a new employment...

My girlfriend and I went here on a whim on our anniversary. Overall, we really liked the store and its selection of sage, crystals and books. The majority of their staff were very kind and helpful. If you read yelp reviews, you'll see that others have had negative experiences with a woman who I believe owns or co-owns the store and sadly, we were not exceptions to this. We were taking our time, noting wear we were interested in coming back for. Once she started helping us, there was pressure. I would tell my girlfriend something, or exclaim interest in something, and she would immediately jump into the conversation with "are you interested in buying it???" or insert herself into a conversation kind of aggressively. I get that they need to make sales, but it got very tiresome, especially as she followed us around the store and watched us intently. The store has a really great selection, and I was really taking everything in. But trying to pick crystals when someone is watching you like that is very uncomfortable. It very much killed the joyfulness we initially had upon discovering the store. In the end she asked us if we were finished and actually going to buy something, with an aggrivated little sigh, to which I replied "well I wasn't finished, but now I am."No, no, you can keep looking..." Nope. We were done and felt the need to leave as soon as possible.

I'll still try to go back for a book I can't find easily other places and because I want to support local business, and try to look at the crystals when she's not around, but it's sad that I'll be actively trying to avoid her.

Her other staff were really nice and chill. What you would expect and like in a shop like this. While I'll never say anyone has to be happy or get along with everyone, she should leave the sales part of her shop to the capable staff she has and realize that the unfriendly customer service she gives is really...