Spirit Dreams — Attraction in Grand Rapids

All in all I really love this store! The atmosphere is spiritual, it's a very quiet place with pretty music, very clean, and the shop employees are accomodating. If you want to know the price on a big piece, they are more than willing to handle it for you if you ask, which I tend to do to avoid any unforseen clumsiness. The employees welcome you when you enter, but they let you shop in peace, unlike the constant unwanted attention at most retail shops. They are also great about answering any questions you may have, and are generally friendly. A couple of the girls working there make me feel a little uncomfortable, but I think that's just my anxiety around strangers making them feel a little uncomfortable, so I don't think that really applies to their average customer. Again, I think the people and the shop are great! The only reason I give them 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the occasional mislabelling of their products, and the unsustainable use of paper. Regarding the paper, I know I've been a bit of a hypocrite, thoughtlessly snatching up the small informational papers they provide, but lately I've found myself regretting that. For being all about nature, I sure feel guilty contributing to the unnecessary demolition of trees for essentially consumerism. Now, I just write it in my phone and add it to a digital photographic list of my specimen. As for the labels, I bought a gorgeous aragonite sphere there that was labelled as blue calcite, which is not actually accurate. It's calcite's close companion and the same mineral makeup, but is actually a different crystalline structure and visually looks different, ergo it's differential naming. Also, I stupidly bought a mini opalite sphere thinking it was true opal, only to realize it's not a natural mineral at all. It's fine that they sell opalite, as many mineral sellers do, but there was no label indicating that it's a synthetic material for those unfamiliar with opalite, despite the crystal energy information being readily available and the placement of the product amongst various other natural mineral specimen. I know this is essentially symantics for someone whom buys specimen for crystal healing intentions, but I don't buy in to all of that. I collect specimen because I'm fascinated by the natural canvas, and greatly enjoy educating myself on their various structures and properties, mining locations, and color varients. I'm relatively new to the geological sciences, but after months of research, speaking with sellers, and getting to personally know wholesalers that mine their own specimen, I'm fairly confident to say that the new age crystal healing is detrimental to those of us simply seeking to be well informed about the science and authenticity of our collection. Bottom line? I love this store, it has a beautiful array of options, probably 99% of which are labelled well, and the people are nice. I'll definitely keep shopping here, and if you aren't too concerned about symantics, then it might be the perfect experience every time! Remember, though I do my best to be fair, informative, and unbiased, my reviews are still primarily opinion based on my personal experience. The only way for you to truly know how you feel is to check it out, and it is a store worth exploring...

Today was my first (and probably last) visit to spirit dreams. The atmosphere was fairly clear, they had a huge selection of crystals. After shopping around for a bit I brought a sheet of paper (they request that you wrote down all crystals and prices that are not $1, so I did, and excluded those that were $1 from the list) with a small selection of crystals to the front desk. After about two words to me the woman at the counter began being very rude. She was upset that I didn't remember all the different crystals with the individual prices, if I would have known it was an issue I would have wrote them all down and tried to keep them sorted but at my usual shop, the owner knows everything with the price. I genuinely felt bad and that I had made a mistake so I apologized and told her I would match the crystals from the paper to where I wrote them down. In 30 seconds I was able to line the first two up where they belonged before she snatched one right out from in front of me and in a pretty agrivated tone said she knew what that stone was and the price. I was caught pretty off guard by her attitude and tried to continue sorting out the $1 stones from the others. I was constantly interrupted and when I would point out the name of one she would get snippy and say "I know what that is but how much is it?" And refused to listen to my response until I physically went over to the display with the price. She ended up over charging me a few dollars but I said nothing because the way that she treated me was so appalling I wanted to leave as quickly as I could. I couldn't get her negativity off of me for a good hour after I left. It's a real shame, because some of the employees seemed very nice and even knew customers by name, I was very eager to become a regular visitor. Unfortunately it wasn't...

@The Store, the person I'm commenting on the behalf of says the employees are fantastic. The employees were also nice about her daughter picking out crystals.

@Meagin Lynne - You're not all that intelligent if you think a first time visitor to a store is a) a stalker, b) a secret shopper. A secret shopper -judges the store- not the people. Third of all, you're spouting you look young? The person you talked to is in no way a teenager, so I guess she looks young too? She tried to help you. She counted her stuff because not everyone is as baller rich as you and has to make sure they stay on budget. I'm uncomfortable the whole time with your snarky entitled attitude. She was a new customer there, she was really excited to have found the place, and your selfish opinion has made her sad enough to debate even going back. Also, she got 4 books, not 3. She had a list, apparently, you didn't. Maybe 2 of her 4 books were the same as you, because she let you have a book she had, the -LAST- one and then you go and rant that shes pestering you? You just profiled someone, and then said you don't like to be profiled? Girl, please. Also, if you're gonna say you look like you're gonna steal, doesn't that say more about you? She was finally getting out of the house, taking care of her kid and boyfriend (who were by then, waiting on her in the car) is a full time exhausting job, especially during a pandemic, and you're here acting all entitled because you spent too long in the book section? Other people wanna shop too. Your negative attitude could do with some cleansing.

I'm just sad people like Meagin, ruin experiences for anxious first time shoppers. Hopefully she doesn't go to the next store the person I'm reviewing for is going to, just to ruin that...