NORTHAMPTON — Spill the Tea Sis Apothecary has called their store on Main Street home for almost three years now and they have continued to immerse themselves within the Northampton community as a small business.
The metaphysical shop is operated by three generations Owner Mischa Roy’s family offering a curated collection of items for modern mystic with many of the items being made by the staff. Roy launched Spill the Tea Sis as a wholesale business selling tea before eventually finding a home for the business.
From the growth of her small business, Roy said it comes from the growth of the relationship built with customers.
“We really try and gear the things that we do in store and the ways that we create customer appreciation because it doesn’t just serve us, but also serves our consumers,” Roy explained. “That’s real good small business, and lasting small business is built on reciprocal relationships.”
The store features items like crystals, candles, tarot cards, books jewelry and other accessories is intentionally curated to bring items people should know, brands with values that mirror the businesses own, and interested well crafted pieces that can add joy and value to every day lives and rituals, the website explains.
In this same attitude of connecting people with modern mystic and items beneficial toward healing practices and spirituality, a very popular item has emerged from the business in its “Angels are Near when Cardinals Appear” ancestor grief intention soy wax candle.
Roy explained after losing her father and stepfather during the coronavirus pandemic, she moved back home to be with her mother and other family. At this time, the business was almost totally wholesale and one night Roy and her mother came across the storefront that would become Spill The Tea Sis.
Motivated to continue the growth of her business, Roy took over the storefront and has only seen growth since. Being back home and with her family as the business grew, Roy and her team eventually came up with the idea for the ancestor grief candle when thinking of a way to connect the sign of comfort a cardinal can be with the warmth of a holiday season item.
“Cardinals are messenger birds. Often times when you see a cardinal it’s a message from a loved one who passed and that’s how we started,” Roy explained. “We poured just a few of them our first year around the holiday and now people love them so much we let people order all the time.”
The item is an example of the type of items and potential gifts the shop offers and the heart of the gift means a lot during the holidays, a time that can be just as lonely as joyful for many.
“We have a whole section with cardinals in it and things for messages,” Roy added. “It can be a very jolly, but also very hard time of year and people are still trying to find ways to connect that work for them.”
Roy added this year there will be an option to have the label of the candle adjusted so it showcases the name of a personal loved on it.
Roy appreciates the importance of family, as a portion of her team at Spill the Tea Sis are members of her family. Her mother and son assist part time in the business, as well as her husband Will, and according to Roy, it is an example of what small businesses do for people in a community.
“I think when people come in and they see us all working together, they understand that we’re there for a reason,” said Will. “It’s not about the dollars or being in control or who is doing more than the other, it’s just being happy and watching all of us be happy.”
“We want people to feel good about where their money is spent. We work hard to source the products we sell if we don’t make them. Because we want from start to finish the whole entire transaction from you getting the product, your experience in the store, to gifting the product to your loved ones, that you feel good about it in every capacity,” Mischa Roy added.
The store will also be offering a 30% off Black Friday sale, and 20% off on the weekend of Small Business Saturday, making it one of many ideal spots to check out when shopping in Northampton this holiday season.
Overall, Roy said she hopes people check out what small businesses like hers and others in the community have to offer this holiday season.
“Every dollar that you spend locally that dollar actually stays in your community and multiplies. That is for every community across Western Mass. when you’re thinking about where your money goes this holiday,” Roy said, “There are a lot of really cool small businesses in downtown Northampton that are making a lot of effort.”
