New York's New Age: City Awakens to Aurora Spiritual Book Center
by Nicole Pezold, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 9/30/2003
In April 2001, Angela Babecov, a former CIBC Oppenheimer vice-president, left her job on Wall Street to open Aurora Spiritual Book Center on the Lower East Side of New York City, not far from her former workplace. The timing was striking: five months later, the World Trade Center fell and many of her former colleagues and coworkers suffered a malaise that forced them to reconsider the path of their lives."We've grown a lot both spiritually and materially since 9/11," said Babecov, who is originally from Tajikistan, and now prefers to go by her cosmic name, OsSiya, meaning "the saved one." She dresses the part, wearing a flowing white dress, her short black hair slicked back in a mini ponytail; she smiles easily.
Despite the financial setback befalling other businesses in lower Manhattan, Aurora is thriving and now boasts 2,000 titles--double what it offered a couple of years ago. However, weathering the economic incertitude of the last few years has taught OsSiya and her 15 volunteers lessons in patience and persistence. "There were hurdles to just being in this economic environment," said OsSiya, who has no regrets about leaving the world of banking behind. "Existing is a blessing."
The bookseller sees her mission as nourishing the spiritual well-being of lower Manhattan: "We're not motivated by profit, but by healing," she explained. The books carry minimal markup, just enough to sustain the shop, and all of the classes and consultations are free.
To OsSiya, her cozy, 600-sq.-ft. space is more than just a bookstore. "[Aurora] is a center with a deeper purpose than just selling books," she said. "We're helping people become acquainted with alternative means of balance" through books, music and meditation tools.
Many of the books are on specialized topics and hard to find on the average chain bookseller's shelves. "It's selective," said OsSiya. "I choose the books very carefully."
She is also sensitive to their display, shunning the "chaos" of larger stores. The titles are lined along soothing lavender walls--the same color as OsSiya's sparkling eye shadow--and are intermingled with an assortment of aromatic candles, inspirational music and crystals of all shapes, colors and healing qualities. Above the bookshelves, portraits of spiritual teachers--from El Morya, "the ascended master," to St. Germaine and Jesus Christ--preside over customers' spiritual advancement.
But the selection and display are only part of what distinguishes Aurora from other booksellers. OsSiya and her volunteers work "one spirit at a time," getting to know many of their regular customers. "The personal relationships we make are the difference between the center and other stores," she said. Just after the September 11 attacks, Aurora donated 600 books to firefighters, police and other rescue workers, many of whom later returned to the store as customers. "Our reward for donating the books was that the people came back," she said.
Initially, customers came from the surrounding lower Manhattan neighborhoods, and OsSiya's stock, with titles in English, Spanish and Russian, reflects the linguistically diverse clientele. The center now attracts buyers from all five boroughs, as well as New Jersey and Connecticut, and occasional online shoppers from as far away as Spain.
OsSiya has noticed a growing interest in New Age books since September 11, which she attributes to a general "cosmic" move toward spirituality, compassion and sensitivity. "This is a spiritual boom," she said, advising, "If bookstores haven't developed a metaphysical section, they should."
Aurora has sections on Buddhism, fiction and poetry, parenting and Agni yoga. The center's most popular fiction includes The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco), The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield (Warner), as well as Persian poetry by Rumi and Hafiz. Among the bestselling books are the rainbow of titles by Bulgarian spiritual teacher Omraam Mikael Aivanhov, who offers "life-transforming rules" in his three books: Good Rules for Everyday Life, The Powers of Thought and The Yoga of Nutrition .
The center also carries more than 100 children's books "to inspire kids to grow spiritually," and includes everything from Dear Children of the Earth, a colorful, illustrated book on living an environmentally conscious life, to the Harry Potter series.
As Aurora has grown, the property values have shot up along tree-lined Clinton Street. A few years ago, the neighborhood seemed dark and gloomy to OsSiya. Today, she says, "new, pretty stores and chi-chi restaurants" abound. The Lower East Side's recent rejuvenation may be part of the ongoing gentrification of the old immigrant neighborhood, but OsSiya believes it's also, at least partially, a result Aurora's good karma. "We bring light to this street," she said.
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