A Collaborative Ethnography

In Images

Lynn conducts her reading sessions in a small booth at the back of the store. I took a picture of the stand, but just outside of the frames is a massive, roughly 3 foot tall crystal and a range of other healing and psychic items. The booth is both crowded with items yet homey at the same time. 

Co-owners Lynn and Tom Swain in front of the store. Lynn Swain is a 7th generation psychic, and she is well versed in various metaphysical and psychic practices such as tarot card reading and dream interpretations.

Some of the items sold in the the store. There are only crystals in the store, but Lynn and Tom sell a variety of other items as well. 

COVID's Impact on MagikCraft

To Tom, COVID changed the way he interacts with customers. Stress from the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown has negatively impacted nearly everyone’s lives, so Tom tries to take a more personable approach with customers. Instead of the unpersonable interactions you find in many stores, Tom tries to go beyond the typical “hi, how are you doing?” and tries to get a read on someone- gauging whether the customer is interested in talking more. If Tom senses that the customer is open to talking, he would continue talking with and learning more about the customer. 

In fact, when I had met Tom for the first time in the store, we talked for several hours about delta 8/CBD and numerology. Since there weren’t any other customers in the store, he took the time to calculate my “life path” and then pulled out a massive book several inches thick detailing the personalities and eccentricities of various life paths and we spent hours reading and learning about my life path. Tom’s personable approach astonished me, but to him, the chance to cultivate relationships with customers he’s never met means that “work is not like work.”

Duke's impact on local business

Despite co-owning a local Durham business, Tom had never heard of anything Duke has done to support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though not every local business owner knows of Duke’s efforts to support businesses during the pandemic, Duke still has contributed to Durham’s Small Business Recovery Fund to provide grants and loans to support local businesses during COVID. Partly because of Duke’s contribution, the Durham Small Business Recovery Fund was able to provide financial support to 175 small businesses in Durham, with most of them being women and minority-owned. 

Duke's Impact in Numbers

Dollars
0 M

Duke Has Contributed 1 Million Dollars to the Small Business Recovery Fund, 35% of all the money in the fund.

Businesses Supported
1

The Duke-supported Small Business Recovery Fund has funded 175 local Durham businesses through loans and grants.

Minority-owned
1 %

72% of the businesses that recieved funding from the Duke-supported Small Business Recovery Fund are minority-owned.

With the support of this grant, I have been able to pivot my business by equipping the dance studio with technology for online classes. I was prepared for the application process and received the support I needed. 

Nicole Oxendine

Empower Dance Studio

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