KINGSTON, N.Y. — A new metaphysical shop and used bookstore has popped up in Midtown, seeking to be a healing space for the Kingston community.
Spiral Mirror, located at the former Bank of America building at 635 Broadway, Studio Left, is the passion project of married duo Dan Chung and Corinna Barsan, who moved to Kingston two years ago. On its first day of business on Friday, the store was full of spiritual books, crystals, plant tinctures, art, Tibetan singing bowls and other metaphysical items.
“It’s an offering that grows out of our natural interests and passions and love,” Chung said. “We’ve been surrounded by spiritual used books and crystals, ourselves personally, for around 10 years.”
The concept for Spiral Mirror first came in the form of a pop-up at the former Half Moon Books location in Uptown, Chung said. “Through that process, a friend of ours had another friend that was leaving this space and brought it to our attention,” he said. “We came and looked at it and one thing led to another, and here we are.”
Chung said he and Barsan are there to support the community. “When we came to Kingston, the community embraced us immediately,” he said. “We feel like it’s our form of reciprocity to bring something like this to Kingston.”
“We definitely want to create an environment where, even if you’re unfamiliar with what we’re talking about, all of these things, you can come and just experience a calm space,” Chung added. “If you’re curious, we’re here to talk to you about things.”
Chung has a weekly group at People’s Place’s Wellness Empowerment Center and is a practitioner and board member for Health Care Is A Human Right. Barsan is an Akashic Records reader, crystal resonance therapist and independent book editor.
Barsan and Chung hand-select all of the books available for sale at Spiral Mirror, Barsan said. “A lot of them are based on our interests and what we think other people might be curious about,” she said.
The crystals in the store are curated by a friend of Barsan and Chung. “They speak to her in the same way books speak to us,” Barsan said. “It’s a partnership of love.”
Chung and Barsan intend to operate Spiral Mirror as an event space as well. “We’ll be hosting gatherings for people to explore their inner worlds and to sit with what’s moving through them, emotionally and just generally in their external lives,” Barsan said. “We also want to have artists in here talking about their process, often artists’ processes connect to daily life and what you can create in your own life.”
Barsan said some other ideas for events and community happenings include a quiet hour, where visitors to the space can sit and read without laptops or phones, as well as a book swap. “We want people to have some quiet, have some calm, feel nurtured and supported, that’s ultimately our goal,” Barsan said. “We want to meet people and have people meet each other.”
“We love Midtown, we live in Midtown,” Barsan said. “It feels like there’s an energy here, a freshness and newness, new things opening, people coming in. We’re happy to be here.”
Spiral Mirror is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, as well as by appointment. For more information, visit spiralmirror.com or find Spiral Mirror on Instagram at @spiralmirror_
