Sheepish: Racine Local Business Builds Community During Pandemic

Emily Lorentzen decided to go to her favorite wellness shop, Sheepish in Racine Wis., one day in the summer of 2021 to clear her mind and calm her nerves, as she was contemplating a life-changing decision that day. When she walked through the front door, she let the aromas of burning incense wash over her and the calming environment soothe her. 

While she began to browse the aisles of tarot cards, essential oils, crystals, and new-age medicines, the shop owner, Melissa Kirkeby, asked Lorentzen how she was doing. Lorentzen found comfort in this and confided in her. She told Kirkeby that she was contemplating ending her relationship with her boyfriend. 

“She had all of the right things to say to me,” Lorentzen said. “And she gifted me a crystal that would help me through the upcoming journey I was about to go through.” 

Sheepish is a community-based metaphysical wellness shop in Racine, Wis. that opened in 2000. They offer crystals, incense, essential oils, tarot cards, local art, clothing, over 200 herbs, 90 varieties of teas, two dozen house blends, new-age medicines and so much more. Through the pandemic, this local business supported its community by providing a safe space for patrons and in return gained customers during difficult times. 

Many people faced financial uncertainty in 2020, including Lorentzen, who was only 19-years-old at the time. Even so, she would go to sheepish frequently and bring as many coins as she could find to purchase crystals. One day as Lorentzen was counting her coins at the counter, a stranger shopping in the store noticed her. 

“This kind lady gave the owner some money for me to pick out some other crystals,” Lorentzen said. “She didn’t say anything to me she just noticed I was paying in coins.” 

Regulars of Sheepish are not loyal customers just because of the quality wellness products, but because of their love for the owner Kirkeby, and the community she has built there. 

“I absolutely adore the owner,” Genesis Thompkins, a customer of Sheepish, said. “She is an amazing person and, every time I go in there, she makes it very personable. She makes me feel like I am supposed to be there, not like a customer but more like a friend.” 

Kirkeby is a certified Crystal Healer and was looking for part-time work when she started working at Sheepish 12 years ago.

Ann Huber and Steve Merrill first opened the shop almost 24 years ago when there was nothing like it in the Racine community. It opened with virtually bare shelves. They wanted Sheepish to be a comforting and welcoming place for people to visit. As time went on, the shelves were filled with items that the community was interested in wellness wise such as natural body products, alternative medicines, Chinese medicines and essential oils. These products were not something you could pick up at just any store 24 years ago, according to Kirkeby. 

Kirkeby took over ownership of Sheepish in March of 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“If it wasn’t an established business already that would have been really scary,” Kirkbey said. 

Because of the health-and-wellness products they carry, Sheepish was able to stay open through the lockdown. In frightening times, people were looking for wellness advice and a safe space to turn to. 

“I think I was just looking for something to get into in 2020 because everyone was so bored out of their minds,” Lorenzen said. “I just needed something, so I started going to Sheepish and that turned into me going almost every day.” 

Unexpectedly and unlike so many other local businesses across the country, Kirkeby explained that Sheepish gained a lot of customers throughout the course of the pandemic. During this time the demographic of customers at Sheepish began to expand. 

“Twenty-four years ago, new age metaphysical wellness was more of a middle-aged white woman thing,” Kirkeby said. 

Now the customers at Sheepish have a much wider range in terms of age, gender and race. But, why? 

“I believe there is a very large, broad, worldwide, universe-wide opening of spirituality,” Kirkeby said. “People are becoming connected with the earth, being more earth-minded, connecting with themselves, and wanting to heal themselves before going out into the world and experiencing other relationships.”

The Fetzer Study of Spirituality in the United States found that the group of adults who identify as more spiritual than religious rose from 18.5% in 1998 to 33.6% in 2020. 

Kirkeby has seen these statistics to be true at Sheepish and within the Racine community. People often turn to spirituality in times of need. 

“If I have a customer come in and they have no money, they just need time, that’s what they will get,” Kirkeby said. “They get my time, my energy, my thoughts and prayers. Whatever can help them get through the day.”  

Gabbie Rosenmarkel is a family friend of Kirkeby. In 2020 her cousin, who was 15-years-old at the time, was looking for a creative outlet and a way to make some money during the pandemic. She began making jewelry and Kirkeby let her sell her collection at Sheepish. Rosenmarkel has a particularly special connection to Sheepish. 

“The summer that my uncle died I used to wear this perfume that I got from Sheepish,” Rosenmarkel said. “Every time I smell it now, I think of him, and I think of Sheepish, and I think of being home with my family, it’s just very sweet to me.” 

More recently with rising prices, Sheepish has not been quite as prosperous. But the 2023 Small Business Saturday in Racine, following Black Friday, was the most successful one they have had since 2020.

“We have world travelers come in, and they keep coming back saying that this is the only place like it in the world,” Kirkeby said. “That really fills my heart. That’s why I do what I do.”