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Future looks bright for Psychic Fair Emporium

By KEVIN KENYON

Success, as with many things in life, is often found in the unlikeliest of places. For Denise Tucker, it was in the stars.

As proprietor of Psychic Fair Emporium, a new 1,600-square-foot store at Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise, Fla., Ms. Tucker has found her own recipe for success -- mix good business with a little "spiritual" guidance.

The one-of-a-kind store, which is designed as a stone castle, features six private reading areas, and sells crystal balls, tabletop fountains, Native American crafts and tarot cards, as well as sculpted porcelain fairies, dragons and wizards, to its fast-growing clientele.

Shoppers are greeted at the front entrance by the outstretched hand of a wizard holding a crystal ball.

Upon entering the "metaphysical fantasy," shoppers can mine for crystals ($10 a bucket) in the fresh water sluice emanating from Chakra Falls, the store's interactive water feature. The discovered jewels can be transformed into wearable art by the store's resident wire wrapper.

The main attraction, however, is the private reading areas in the back, where Ms. Tucker's band of professional psychics, who are required to have a minimum of 15 years of experience, offer guidance on anything from careers to the location of lost mementos.

Although Ms. Tucker would be the first to admit she doesn't have psychic abilities, that hasn't stopped her from getting a little advice from her friends, who in this case happen to be professional psychic readers -- and her employees.

After successfully operating a kiosk called Psychic Fair for seven years at Sawgrass Mills, which is owned by The Mills Corp., Arlington, Va., Ms. Tucker and her husband/partner George decided last year to expand their growing business into an in-line space. They were undecided, however, on when to open the store.

At the suggestion of one of her readers, the couple decided to use a type of astrological chart known as a horary chart to choose the perfect date and time to open their store.

The couples' dates of birth, and the date they signed their lease were compiled in a chart, which -- after a few calculations -- resulted in a date of March 6 at 10 a.m., and that's exactly when the ribbon was cut.

Although Ms. Tucker admittedly doesn't follow the stars for most of her business decisions, she didn't see any harm in getting a little spiritual insight.

"Truthfully, as a business person, if I can figure out a way that's going to really support business in a way that might be a bit unusual, but isn't going to hurt anybody -- I'm going to do it," she said.

Besides suggesting the opportune time to open the store, the psychic also gave the couple a detailed reading about the outlook for the new business.

"She said it would be financially successful quickly, that people would come in and really talk about it, it would receive international acclaim, and that it would be forever -- however long we chose to have this business, it would be our decision," Ms. Tucker remembered. "To be honest with you, everything she said has come to pass so far."

That includes intense interest from international customers, who make up a significant portion of the mall's business (Sawgrass is the second largest tourist attraction in Florida, behind Disney, according to Mills). The store has also benefited, Ms. Tucker said, from its call-in service, which offers readings for clients around the world.

"We get regular calls from Venezuela, Colombia, the Caribbean, Germany, France and as far away as Taiwan," she said, noting that the store benefits from being located near the area where tourist buses arrive.

Not surprisingly, the store also has generated a lot of interest from passersby, who constantly walk in to talk about it -- as the psychic predicted.

As for being forever, only time will tell, but at presstime Ms. Tucker said she was in discussions with Mills officials, who are interested in expanding the concept to 10 of its other locations over the next five years.

Ironically, when Ms. Tucker first spoke with officials at Mills' leasing department about operating a kiosk when Sawgrass opened, they were not interested, she said. But she refused to take no for an answer and went straight to management, who eventually okayed the deal.

More mysterious, however, is the story about how Ms. Tucker and her husband ended up getting into the psychic business in the first place 13 years ago.

Looking for some spare cash, the couple decided to publish a catalog of interesting things to do for busy people -- aptly named The Things To Do Catalog.

The catalog, Ms. Tucker remembered, included such varied topics from "Quicky Japanese" to "Tube Bending" with a professional tube bender, as well as a course on how to read palms, called "Psychic Fair."

After several successful events at parties and functions, it was apparent that Psychic Fair was a hit.

"We were surprised at the kinds of people that were coming, they were professionals -- local business people, doctors, attorneys -- men and women," she said.

Still, although the couple started holding Psychic Fairs every weekend, it wasn't until one of the psychics suggested the possibility of doing readings at one central location that the wheels really started to spin.

"We went to check out Sawgrass Mills, which had just opened," Ms. Tucker remembered. "Then it happened. As soon as we walked in we saw a kiosk sitting in the corner in front of a store that wasn't even built, and it had a pyramid on the top. We said 'Wow, maybe this is a sign' -- because the pyramid is a very spiritual symbol -- so we decided to talk with management."

Business eventually outgrew the 144-square-foot kiosk, which was located in the middle of the mall's New Ideas Court, originally had room for five reading areas, and was extremely successful over the next seven years, Ms. Tucker said.

Despite her success, she's not above sharing one of the "secrets" with other aspiring retailers.

"If people are thinking about going into retail, and they want to get a horary chart to find out the best time to open, they can call us up, we'll help them."