New Age bookstore owner tries to offer insight patrons seek

Well, Bob Leysen does. It’s part and parcel of his post as founder and owner of Psychic Eye, a regional chain of New Age bookstores with three locations in Las Vegas and four branches in Los Angeles.

Leysen doesn’t limit his merchandise to books. His stores feature items ranging from wind chimes and incense burners to crystals and candles. Customers can also visit with one of about 45 local psychics the store chain contracts with for private readings.

Leysen started his professional life as a 16-year-old union musician who eventually played with stars including Billie Holiday. He left the music business in the 1960s and opened a head shop. He transitioned from there into psychic bookstores about 20 years ago, when he moved to Las Vegas from the Midwest. He plans to open two more Psychic Eye stores in Las Vegas in coming years, and is also preparing to enter the San Diego market in the next 12 months.

Question: What kinds of cycles affect your business?

Answer: People come in for readings more during recessions, or around New Year’s, for example. Generally speaking, people are looking for entertainment, hope and direction. It’s like a cheap psychiatric session. Most people just want someone to talk to. We do a lot of private parties and even convention work where there’s other entertainment, and when the conventions close down for the evening, people are still standing in line for a reading. They’ll stand in line for half an hour to get a five-minute reading.

Question: What’s the appeal of a reading?

Answer: People want to see what their future is. Eighty percent of our customers are women. The No. 1 thing they ask about is love, and next are health and money. When things are bad, people want direction. They’re curious. They think, “Let’s see what they say.” They want answers, and what have they got to lose? They think, “Maybe these people know something.”

All our psychics have psychic arts licenses through the city. The license requires a background check, a police check and fingerprinting. They don’t actually check to see if someone is a psychic. I actually don’t know what a psychic is. I’ve never met one.

Question: Why do you say you’ve never met a psychic?

Answer: Because there’s no standard for what one is. There’s a standard according to visibility and notoriety, but it’s not well enough established where you would say someone has this many degrees or teaches at a university. But I think since the beginning of time the seers have always been there, and people have always been curious. I think there is a place for us as long as we know our place.

Question: Have you ever had a psychic reading?

Answer: No. What are they going to tell me? I know I’ve got to be here seven days a week. It’s my business. It’s what I do. It’s like if I were running a casino or a grocery store or a Starbucks. The principal is the same: You’ve got to pay your bills, you’ve got to keep your customers happy, you need new product coming in. I’ve got to stick to the basics. The store is different from any other store on the retail side, and then I have the psychics. Put the two together and it’s an unusual place a lot of people want to visit.

Question: What are your biggest sellers in either services or products?

Answer: We sell a lot of jewelry with the zodiac signs, good-luck charms and books. People have little altars at home, and they’ll buy herbs and oils. We have more than 80 different kinds of magic herbs. People are into that kind of thing. They want to get involved in something that can change their life or bring them what they want. It’s psychological.

Question: Do those things help bring people what they want?

Answer: If it helps the individual, it gives them a direction. It’s surprising how many little groups of people are into the persuasion-of-belief factor, and they have rituals. The good-luck charm can create good luck because someone might have more confidence when they’re wearing it.

Question: What’s the hardest thing about being in New Age retail?

Answer: We’re dealing with a niche market, so it’s not for everybody. Sometimes people are walking by outside and they have children with them, and the children want to come in and the parents say something like, “Don’t go in there. You’ll never come out.” A lot of people, because of religious persuasions and old wives’ tales, worry about it. But we don’t care what you are, we respect everybody’s persuasion.

Question: What do you enjoy about the business?

Answer: It’s a challenge. Can you come up with something the people want to pay for? And there’s not a lot of competition in this area. The competition is minimal, but business is also minimal compared with other types of companies. Everybody has to go to the grocery store, and lots of people want to go play the slot machines. They put their money in and hope something happens. Here, they pay their money and hope they can get some insight. There is a place for us if we make the store interesting for a variety of people. Not everyone wants to have a psychic reading.

Question: What’s the strangest item or service people have bought from you?

Answer: In the last year or so, we’ve noticed a lot of people who want somebody to come over and exorcise their office or home, because they feel there’s an evil spirit there. We’ll take incense and holy water and bless the house. It’s a placebo. “Well, the house is cleansed now, so we’re protected,” and they can relax.

Question: Have you ever experienced any unusual spiritual phenomena? Have you ever seen a ghost or had an episode of extrasensory perception?

Answer: No.

Question: Do you believe in those things?

Answer: I believe there’s a need for it if you believe in it. It’s not my thing, but I’ve seen that if it’s handled properly and legitimately, we can help a lot of people. I feel good about that, but I don’t run the business by it.

Question: What’s your response to people who say psychic readings and the like are not real?

Answer: I say, “You got me. I don’t know. Could be.” I don’t get into an argument with them.

Question: For small retailers who want your longevity, what tips would you offer?

Answer: You’ve got to have a gimmick. You have to be a specialist in something. Come up with gimmick that fills a niche. We’ve got a gimmick and we’ve got the merchandise. It takes a while. People call me and ask, “Where do you get all your products?” I say, “It’s taken me years to get this lineup of products.”

It’s very hard to get into any business. Almost every type of business is out there already, so I think to go into business you have to ask what you can do that has not already been done.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4512.