The New Age movement is gaining momentum at the same time the
baby boomers are moving into middle age-a time in life typically
associated with introspection and facing one's own mortality.
Coincidence? Many experts don't think so.
And even though more than a few baby boomers are part of the New
Age audience today, their impact on the movement is almost
certainly eclipsed by the Generation X crowd. For it is the younger
consumers-the children of yesteryear's flower children-that are
proving to be the prime market for all things ethereal.
"It's a growing movement among younger people,"
affirms Rick Rowland, 37, co-owner of 20-year-old Nashville,
Tennessee, company Music City Marketing Inc., which wholesales New
Age products such as American Indian crafts, mineral key chains and
crystal balls to retailers worldwide. "The [flower children of
the 1960s] were looking for something-enlightenment or whatever. I
think it's natural that their children [have] the same
curiosities."
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"The flower children of the '90s are really going for
this," agrees entrepreneur Joe Bonk, 40, of the jewelry and
incense burners made from Fimo clay and sold by his Ormond Beach,
Florida, company, Going Bonkers Inc. "Incense burners have
gone through the roof!"
But the times, oh, how they have a-changed. Although spiritual
paraphernalia is still sold in the thousands of New Age shops
throughout the country, retailers as diverse as department stores,
gift shops, drugstores and theme parks now traffic in the
otherworldly as well. "It's so mainstream," says
Bonk, "you can sell [these products] in a mall."
Don't criticize what you may not understand, however:
We're not talking about Woodstock redux. "The people who
grew up in the '60s, when people were [commonly] smoking pot,
automatically think incense is used to cover up pot smoke,"
says Marc Biales, 46, founder of Wild Berry Incense in Oxford,
Ohio. "But people who didn't grow up with this experience
don't look at it quite the same. They just want to put a
fragrance in the room."
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