Serendipity Crystals, located at 271 Newark Avenue, is an oasis in the middle of busy downtown Jersey City. Opening in the fall of 2021, the store is a warm and welcoming place that truly has something for everyone. There’s more to the beautiful crystals that fill the store than meets the eye: each is imbued with a different healing power.About Letitia Gontijo
Longtime New Jersey resident Letitia Gontijo is the store’s manager and has been studying and working with crystals for over eight years. “It was a lot of books and self-study,” Letitia said. “I learned about geology, where they come from, spiritual properties, where on the body the crystal works best.”Letitia was also drawn to the scientific aspect of working with crystals.
“There’s actual science behind it, including really famous names like Nikola Tesla, who studied energy and how to create and manage energy,” she said. “He called crystals ‘living beings’ – he loved quartz crystals. The molecules in quartz aren’t very stable, so they’re good conductors of energy. The same crystal is an energy booster for the body. I thought it was very cool. I noticed a change in myself when I started working with crystals. We have energy fields around us that interact with different things. The crystal isn’t going to magically make things happen in my life, but it can help me direct my energy in that direction.
While Letitia’s studies began as self-study with books, she found that her studies connected her with like-minded people. “I kept connecting with other people who also wanted to heal from the inside,” she says. That’s how she met her business partner, Dominic Barzel, who runs Serendipity Crystal’s sister companies, Serendipity Loft in Jersey City and Home Sanctuary for Wellness in rural Pennsylvania. “We wanted to open a crystal store, and Jersey City made sense because there was nothing like it nearby,” she said. “People were travelling to Montclair or Manhattan to get things like crystals or sage, and we wanted to make it easier for people.”
Since the store opened just over a year ago, Letitia says she’s been pleased with the community that has formed. “After Covid, a lot more people started meditating. The demand for crystals went up when a lot of other things went down,” she said. “Every single person who comes here teaches me something. It’s been great. I love talking to the people who come in. There are a lot of Reiki masters, yogis, a lot of kind and vulnerable people. They feel safe here and that makes me happy.
Something that has surprised Letitia is how many children enjoy the shop. “Children love crystals. Kids come in and it’s like a toy shop. I didn’t expect that. Some kids know about crystals, they know about geology or they want to meditate like mum. It’s pretty cool to experience that. I didn’t expect the kids to be so into it,” she said.
