Meet Sybil Stevenson of Indigo Alliance in Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sybil Stevenson.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have always been interested in metaphysics, specifically Tarot card readings, astrology and mediums. I have frequented psychic shops for years and while in them I would always think to myself, “this is cool, I love being in this place, I could do this myself”. Opening a psychic/metaphysical shop had been on my mind for several years and finally, at the end of 2015 I got really serious about it and started looking for a space to open INDIGO in. I am a real estate broker by profession so it was easy to poke around on real estate websites and then drive around looking at spaces until I found the right one.

In January 2016, I stumbled on the vacant space which is now INDIGO on Colorado Blvd in east Pasadena. I liked it because it had presence on Colorado and it also had a rear entrance with unlimited free parking in the large lot behind the shop. I signed the lease, designed and built out the space and started gathering furniture and decor and merchandise to sell and of course started collecting psychics and healers. We opened at the end of February 2016 and have steadily climbed through the process of identifying a brand, identifying a team of practitioners and of course marketing our existence so that the world would know we are here. It has been a journey and so many wonderful people have come to help, we are a team, each of us
adds something different to the shop, its services, classes and events.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have been blessed with a positive attitude and much determination but I have to say I had financial concerns from the start, I am the owner, I know what the overhead is. I have never owned a retail store, I did lots of budgets, did a small business plan and wrung my hands a lot. One thing that was always comforting is that I am the owner of a small real estate firm and my landlord at INDIGO always reminded me that the space would make a great real estate office, which it would, so at least I had a backup plan for the three-year lease obligation. I think the biggest struggle was finding the right team, the manager, the clerks and of course the psychics.

I have always thought it would be a collective effort, psychics are like artists, they are not business people, they wouldn’t have the wherewithal to find a space and sign a lease to have a place to do their work. I know lots of people that find comfort and solace at psychic shops and I thought it would be a fun thing to do to create a space much like the psychic shops I would frequent, only better. INDIGO seems to spit out anyone that isn’t the perfect fit for it, for some reason those people just wander off to do other things. We seek joyful, caring, loving, spiritual types both in the staff and in the healers/teachers. We have seemed to work that out, we have created a community of like-minded people all there to welcome and to try to help the people that come in the door, seeking the services we offer.

The shop has finally found its design identity, when I first decorated it was fairly minimalist, which is my style. The Salon, the main room, looked like a hotel lobby. Recently a very gifted healer and medium, YaYa, found us and became part of “the family” and he has totally redecorated the shop and brought in a lot more small gift items. He has flair for design and solid retail experience and the shop has never looked better. We had some marketing challenges, we went through two sets of web designers that created the website with my direction but it was not until Roger Ward came to us that we found our final marketing identity. Roger totally redesigned our website and Facebook page and also created a monthly calendar trifold that we hand out at the shop and distribute around town, it tells what’s happening at INDIGO this month with classes and events. It is wonderful, we are proud to distribute it.

We also have our second manager, Shana Davis, who has an amazing creative vision in all things related to marketing, she sends out a weekly email blast that is gorgeous and informative about what is going on this week. Shana also does our Facebook page and Instagram, both are phenomenal. I also have had two kindred spirits who have advised me from the beginning about creating and managing a metaphysical shop and dealing with the spirit world and its inhabitants. Both women, Toni Scalera who is a gifted astrologer and Deana Bagley, who is a channeler, have vast experience in the metaphysical world and are both savvy businesswomen, I don’t think I could have done it without their wise counsel.

Please tell us about Indigo Alliance.
The INDIGO Alliance is a spiritual center and metaphysical gift boutique. We have psychics, mediums, Tarot card readers, Astrologers and palm readers available for readings and we have a variety of teachers who give classes and workshops at INDIGO on such things as astrology, reading the Tarot cards, past life regression, developing your mediumship ability, healthy eating, healing with herbs, tea infusion, candle making to name a few. We have Psychic Fairs every single month, the last Saturday of the month, it is like a large party, the readings are $20 for 15 minutes with at least 4 different healers available, it is a psychic smorgasbord, it is so fun. People come by and hang out and visit, lots of regulars, we always have some food. We sell books, candles, incense, jewelry, crystals, and a large variety of gift items.

INDIGO opens daily at noon, people come by to buy something or to have a reading or to just visit and have a complimentary cup of coffee and cookie and to say hello. People often say, “it feels so good in here, I just wanted to stop by for a minute”. We are creating a community, it is like an after-school clubhouse, a place to come to like in Cheers, “where everybody knows your name”. I have been in every Psychic Shop in LA and there isn’t one that matches INDIGO, we are proud of that. What our INDIGO team, collectively, is most proud of is not only the amazing experiences the customers have but that they all say, “I LOVE this place, it is so welcoming, it feels so good to be in here”, we are all a part of creating that.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Living in our family house on the golf course outside of Davis, California, I remember loving to look at the sweeping green grass and open space and I loved hearing the whooshing sound of the giant sprinklers.

Pricing:

• Psychic Fair readings are $20 for 15 minutes

Contact Info:

• Address: 2548 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107, between Altadena Dr and San Gabriel Blvd.
• Website: www.IndigoAlliance.online
• Phone: 626.796.2100
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indigo_alliance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndigoAPasadenaCa/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/indigo-alliance-pasadena-2

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