Author: Ysabel Mano

Power & Beauty through Crystals

Parksville Downtown has a hidden expertise, a unique store for folks looking to explore the world of
crystals and stonework, spirituality and home spaces, rituals and healthy living. Crafty Crystals, across
from Scotia Bank, offers a wide selection of personal use and gift items exploring mineral elements and
their artistry — a treasure-trove of nature’s beauty.

Health & Wellness in Serenity & Sanctuary

“We carry every option in crystals you can imagine,” owner, Cindy Clarke explained. “Crystals are
categorized by colour, veins, density, size, and post-extraction shaping. We have towers, cathedrals,
spheres, bowls, enhydros, bracelets, carvings, and raw crystals. Every crystal is different — sometimes
our customers are looking for energy and specific properties. But many of the items we carry are simply
perfect for enhancing a room and bringing out the perfect home décor mood.”

Crafty Crystals carries a wide variety of special gift items. From abstract paintings to art cards, jewelry,
wire tree sculptures, clay and crystal mushrooms, luminary beeswax bowls, soy wax candles and votives,
lapidary carvings — there’s always something new in-store. In the beginning, we started with live sales
on Esty and expanded to other social media platforms. Our customers still love our ‘Build a Basket’
online sales where we display our crystals and artwork,” Clarke said.

So Much More than Beautiful Home Decor

Crafty Crystals carries crystal grids, pendulums, tools for spiritual practices, altar items, dice, and
cauldrons. “Each crystal has its own purpose. Practitioners come to us because we have a large selection
of the best quality,” Clarke said. “Crystals can help with everyday life. They’re used in Reiki practices,
during meditation, sometimes for tactile healing procedures, or to wear as an expression of spiritual
health and tranquility.”

Plant-based items also have a unique place in establishing a healthy, holistic, and creative home
environment. Palo santo bundles can be used for their gentle, cedar-like scent in smudging ceremonies.
Soursop is used in bath bombs, deodorant, and other hand-crafted items, and it has a reputation for
augmenting the effectiveness of chemo and cancer treatments. Crafty Crystals specializes in local
artisans, handmade items, a relaxed shopping experience, and earthy vibes.

A Community Drawing Alongside You

Crafty Crystals is a treasure-house of art pieces and witchy wares, focused on supporting the Parksville
community and its diverse artisans. It’s a store where you can stop by to look at what’s new, chat about
the latest news in the crystal community around the world, catch up on the trends. Crafty Crystals is
where you can meet new friends and revel in the beauty of nature’s provision.

Plan to stop in today to see what’s new or look for Crafty Crystals on social media. Think of a friend who
could use a little bit of local artistry as a special gift this month, a way to say, “You’re treasured, you’re
unique, you’re cared for.” Find one-of-a-kind gift items and everyday home décor ideas right here in
Parksville Downtown.

Local Love, One Batch at a Time

Every community has a bakery at its centre. A place where the coffee’s on, the soup is hot, and
something sweet is calling your name. When there’s an office party or a birthday dinner at home, you
know bakery-freshness is essential, local and delicious. These are the tastes you remember, the ones
baked with at-home-style scratch goodness. Parksville Downtown has this special kind of place at the
Sweet Spot Bake Shop, just up the street from Parksville Park in Pioneer Plaza.

Cheesecake to Make You Swoon

Whitney Biden, owner, answers the phone and boxes cookies as we talk about how she came to own
the bakery. “I worked for the original owner, but she wasn’t able to continue with the rigors of daily
baking, so I took over operations. Everything was seamless, as the baton was passed to me and my
team. The original vision for the bakery stayed the same, so many local folks don’t realize what’s
changed behind-the-scenes these past couple of years. We’ve always been the place to find the real deal
in bake goods — cookies, pastries, cakes made with real butter and pure goodness,” Biden said.

“I love seeing the look on a customer’s face when they realize our butter tarts taste just like they
remember. Who doesn’t love getting a fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie? Our churro,
cinnamon bun, and New York cheesecakes are legendary, plus we have cookies ‘n creme, Turtles, and
other to-die-for cheesecake flavours. We’re old-school in our baking and our approach to customer
service. We really care. We know how to create the perfect bakery experience for our customers —
fresh goodness straight out of the oven, whether someone’s stopping mid-day for lunch, or bringing
dessert to a family gathering.”

Scratch Baking, Savory & Sweet

Sweet Spot has savory items, too, and enough space inside to tuck out of the weather and enjoy a
relaxing moment. “Nesvogs’ butcher in Nanaimo is where we get our top-quality meats — for fresh
sandwiches, delicious quiches, and our house-special sausage rolls. Our farmer’s sausage savory roll,
with in-house pickled jalapenos, cheese, ham, and proprietary tomato sauce is a consistent favourite.
Our baked goods are featured on the menus of local restaurants and coffeeshops in Parksville and
Nanoose — places like the Rocking Horse Pub, Coyotes Coffee, and the Pacific Brim Cafe,” Biden said.

Growing the Community Through Local Focus

Open Tuesday through Saturday, there’s soup ready for lunch with a savory roll, and chili simmering on
the weekends. Sweet Spot Bake Shop focuses on small batch baking so you’ll have that fresh-out-of-the-
oven experience. Enjoy cake that tastes like mom’s and cookies that take you back to visits at your
grandparents’ house — Sweet Spot has fresh goodness ready. Stop in regularly and follow the bakery on
social media — watch for their frequent draws and give-aways. Check out Sweet Spot specialty cookies
created for Parksville’s football team — or order some chocolate-dipped strawberries to surprise
someone special this weekend.

Style and Elegance in Women’s Fashion

There’s a feeling you get when you put on that new outfit and step out with confidence for your day. For thirty years and counting, Close to You Fashion Boutique has been helping Parksville’s women feel their best, while working together to make sure the community is strong.

A Warm Touch With a Talent for Connection

Dropping in to Close to You’s location in Corfield Plaza, across from Thrifty’s Foods, we found owner Sandy Herle and her staff hard at work getting ready for their weekly, live-stream fashion show. 

“We host a Women & Wine Wednesday fashion show every week. It’s so much fun. We have staff who model for us and a couple of our regular customers, as well. The shows are streamed live on Facebook and through our YouTube Channel. It’s a great way to see what’s hot and what’s coming,” Herle said.

“We have long-standing, trusted relationships with key designers across Canada and globally. Joseph Ribkoff’s beautiful blouses, slacks, jackets, and evening dresses are some of our most popular styles. We’re always looking for that splash of colour that pairs well. Classy looks, but also a lot of freshness. We have everything from beach wear to shoes and lingerie. If you wear it, we have it.”

Customers Who Become Friends

We asked Herle about her community reputation, built through her boutique management and an early-2000s stint as Parksville’s mayor. “Nothing is as important to me as serving people well. I know ‘good service’ is such an overused term, and it’s hard to find. With our amazing team, we take service excellence very seriously. Finding the right swimsuit or a bra that fits after a mastectomy — those are the times when a woman wants someone who knows exactly which item of clothing will bring out her vibrancy. We’re always looking to help our customers look and feel their very best.”

“It’s our boutique’s motto that we give back, to our customers and to our community. We have great events for women to come and enjoy, plus heads-up specials and coupons through our e-newsletter. We support several Vancouver Island and Parksville charities that focus on helping women through the tough times of life, including the Society of Organized Service (SOS) and the 100 Women Who Care movement,” Herle told us.

Find Out What’s Hot for Next Season

Close to You Fashion Boutique has its finger on the pulse of what’s coming next through the designers you love. By keeping track of the pieces already in your wardrobe, their team can help you find that next hot item that will make your season sparkle.

Stop in this week to see what’s new or check out Close to You online and find out how easy their website shopping experience is. Plan to attend a Wednesday fashion show, in-person or online, to see what your girlfriends at the boutique have brought into town, to keep you looking marvelous. 

A Community Hardware Store at Work

Whether you’re fixing a dripping bathroom faucet or upping your game with a new BBQ for summer backyard parties, your community hardware store provides a supply chain anchor. To succeed, our plans and projects — big and small — rely on having the right items, exactly when we need them. 

In Parksville downtown, Home Hardware has been a trusted part of the local business community for decades. Community residents rely on the vast inventory accessible through Parksville Home Hardware’s links to regional distribution centres and national supply logistics. Getting what you need, right where you are, has been Home Hardware’s Canadian success story for 60 years.

Home Improvement Supplies & New Garden Furniture, Too

We stopped by to talk to Bill Ormiston, owner of Parksville Home Hardware, across from The Beach Club. “We’re the biggest little hardware store on Vancouver Island,” Ormiston said. “If we don’t have what you need on our shelves already, we’ll get it for you quickly. We tap into the Home Hardware regional distribution centre weekly, so our customers know that they can get great quality and selection right here in Parksville — that new bathtub, ride-on mower, or the perfect patio furniture set for summer backyard fun. We offer free assembly of items like BBQs for our customers — we want excellent customer service to be the hallmark of each visit to our store.”

Ormiston went on, “We’ve built a core team over many years. We’re proud of the way our staff serves our customers. Several of our staff members have been with us over a decade. We greet long-time customers by name, as they return frequently for the quality and selection they trust, right here in Parksville. One of the best parts about being so central to the Parksville community is that we get to meet new folks every day!”

Friendliness with a Special Niche, Too

“We carry wine and beer brewing supplies in our store, and this sets us apart a bit. We love being able to support our Parksville neighbours as they create homes and businesses with everything they need for family comfort, office functionality, and leisure-time fun,” Ormiston said.

A Family Business Ensuring Hometown Goodness

Parksville Home Hardware is a multi-generational family affair. As the story goes, Ormiston and his wife, Carol, first met — you guessed it — in the store! Every year, the store gives back to the community through sponsorship of the area’s famous Beach Festival and Sandcastle Sculpting. 

Whether you need a new cordless drill, paint to brighten inside or out, a new kettle in the kitchen, or a BBQ for your deck — Parksville Home Hardware has you covered. Stop in this week, to check out the new items in-store. And bring your next home project idea along, too. Let your local hardware store experts help to make your dreams become reality.