NORTHAMPTON — This weekend, Northampton’s Main Street is looking to get metaphysical.
Spill the Tea Sis, which runs two storefronts at 177 and 183 Main St., will host a weekendlong celebration, starting Friday with a one-year anniversary party featuring charcuterie, libations and a known TikTok influencer and ending Sunday with a block party that will include local artists and farmers selling their wares, as well as live music performances and divination readings.
Originally conceived as a metaphysical apothecary selling “curated goods for the modern mystic,” the store’s first location specializes in metaphysical wares such as crystals and tarot cards.
Mischa Roy-Epstein, the stores’ owner, says she wanted to open a new storefront to help the city’s downtown recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Roy-Epstein comes from a family of entrepreneurs — her brother, David Epstein, had opened JavaNet, the city’s first internet cafe, back in 1995.
“I just thought, hell, it’s a good time,” she said. “Our community deserves to have a reason to come back into town.”
After success with the apothecary, Roy-Epstein opened a second store, Spill the Teas Sis Home + Gift, located a few doors down. The store sells a variety of home goods made by local artists, such as tea sets, scented candles and jewelry.
“We go out of our way to bring in regional and local artists and products that you can no longer get access to in Northampton,” Roy-Epstein said. “Especially queer artists, or women-owned brands or BIPOC artists, people who really deserve to be seen and are not being seen in Northampton.”
The apothecary kicks off its one-year anniversary weekend on Friday at 6 p.m., with a special appearance by Ebony Jasmine Harris, known as Jasmine’s Garden to her 3.3 million followers on social media app TikTok.
A self-described spiritual influencer and a native of Florida, Harris first got in touch with Roy-Epstein after visiting the store shortly after it opened last year.
“We were talking for about 30-45 minutes, and right at the end, she asked, are you Jasmine’s Garden?” Harris recalled. “And from that, we were like, we need to link the next time I’m in town. And that’s really how it spun off.”
The celebrations continue on Saturday, the official one-year mark for Spill the Tea Sis, with a party held at the stores from 5-8 p.m.
On Sunday, Spill The Tea Sis will help host a block party alongside its Main Street neighbors such as clothing store Synergy and smoke shop Shop Therapy, sponsored by the Downtown Northampton Association.
The block party will feature local artists and farmers selling their wares, as well as live music performances and divination readings.
“There’s a lot of people in the valley who are not sold on coming back to Northampton,” Roy-Epstein said. “And they should be. We’re here. We’re businesses working together to make events like Sunday, where it’s a block party and people can meet artists and hang out with each other and listen to live music.”
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
