VILLAGE OF MANLIUS – As the sign out front will tell you, a new metaphysical supply store in the heart of the village of Manlius is full of “beautiful crystals of the world.”
Located in Suite C at 206 E. Seneca St., Crystal Vibration carries polished palm stones as well as minerals like quartz, celestite, fluorite and tourmaline from distant places such as Brazil, Italy, Nepal and Switzerland but also from Arkansas, Tennessee and other parts of the United States.
The owner, Fayetteville resident Laurence Polikoff, has gathered pieces from miners and other private collectors during his worldly travels, mostly relying these days on sources in Tuscon, Arizona, who he buys from wholesale. Those bulk purchases don’t count, however, the “one-off” crystals like the rare quartz cluster with green chlorite on display in his shop that hails from the upper mountains of the Himalayas.
Polikoff previously worked as a graphic designer for advertising agencies, a dog-walker, a massage therapist and a gardener, but in 2017 he chose to follow his greatest passion and sell crystals, which he began collecting as a hobby about 25 years ago.
As a vendor starting out, Polikoff rented booth spaces at gem and jewelry shows at convention centers around California, but he had to put that dependable line of work on hold when COVID-related shutdowns came about in 2020.
In need of a change, he and his wife packed up their belongings and moved from the West Coast to Fayetteville last summer. Though he was used to living in northern California having resided there for 45 years, Polikoff said he and his wife came to the area because his in-laws live in Syracuse and they wanted to be closer to them.
“Things just kind of pointed us this direction, so here we are, and now I’ve opened the shop within the first year of moving out here,” Polikoff said.
Introduced to the world of crystals by a vendor friend of his, Polikoff said the effect given off from the pieces on the glass-encased tables and shelves of Crystal Vibration can be different person to person, but he said many of the pieces are energy-shifting and perspective-altering in some way.
“An overall feeling of well-being and joy is what I get out of them when I look at them or work with them,” Polikoff said speaking just for himself.
He said crystals can be held and meditated with to take the mind off stressed-out thoughts or placed around a written note in an attempt to manifest whatever goal is expressly stated on that sheet of paper.
Though he doesn’t push the metaphysical healing properties exuded by the crystals if a customer is unconvinced or uninterested in that spiritual belief, Polikoff said the nature-made pieces can nonetheless be appreciated for their aesthetic beauty too.
“It’s like going out in nature and looking at a huge maple tree in front of a waterfall,” he said. “An extreme example, but if you go inside a cavern that’s full of huge crystals coming out of the walls, it’s just awe-inspiring.”
He said the “magnetic pull” and beauty of his crystals can partly be attributed to the fact that several of the ones in his shop are millions of years old.
“You can hold a piece and connect with the ancient world, so it’s like holding a fossil,” Polikoff said. “If I were to sum up crystals with one word, it would be ‘grounding’—they ground us back to Mother Earth.”
Some of the pieces at Crystal Vibration are embedded in matrices and some have had their bases cut and polished so they stand better on a shelf, but none are manufactured in labs or soaked in dyes, Polikoff said.
Going forward he said he hopes to eventually hold educational workshops, reiki sessions and crystal-related discussion groups in the back room of his shop.
Crystal Vibration is open noon to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, noon to 9 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.