For Ellen Perkins, owner of Gaia’s Gifts in Washington, the road to business success took several years of laying the groundwork of fostering relationships among artists, herbalists, and holistic practitioner

Perkins, who will be recognized as the Washington Business Improvement District’s Business Person of the Year at its annual awards dinner on Thursday Feb. 8 at Hawk Pointe Golf Club, was a highly successful Office Manager for 32 years before she went into business for herself.

In addition to Perkins, also to be honored at the dinner are Full Throttle Automotive and Cycle Repair, as Business of the Year, The Meat Shoppe at Arctic Foods, Redevelopment Award, and Cathy Miller, photographer, Community Partner.

While working as an Office Manager in Flemington, Perkins became a Healing Touch Practitioner, then began attending women’s festivals where she met many holistic healers and holistic vendors. Eventually, she took a crack at vending a few products on her own including tapestries and crystal pendulums at the Festival in the Borough in 2013.

“I wanted to see if people were interested in what I offered and I did very well” she said. “People started asking me, where’s your store?”

Perkins returned to vend at the Washington festival again in 2014, and the question continued: “Do you have a store?” 

After the second Festival in the Borough “Greg (her husband) and I decided that we did need a store and started picturing what that would look like to us. Saying is one thing, doing is another.”

Perkins, though, was still hesitant to make the leap from her safe job as an Office Manager to business owner. Then, toward the end of 2014 Perkins had a tarot card reading. The fairy oracle card that came up sent a clear message: you have nothing to worry about, you already have all the support you need from your community, see things from a new perspective.

After dining at Juanito’s one evening in 2015 Ellen and her husband took a walk through the Borough. They came across a small store at 76. E. Washington Avenue. It had potential. In a conversation shortly thereafter with Dan Rossi, owner of Get A Grip & More, Rossi told Perkins, “You have nothing to lose…Do it. Do it!”

“I always knew that I could do the business side of it,” said Perkins, who was a longtime member of the WBID’s Board of Directors. “If I could manage a million dollar company then I felt I could run a store.”

And she did just that, opening the door in June of 2015. Initially open only on Friday through Sunday (she remained in her other job), within six months she quit her other job and opened the shop full-time.

“It was the time to do it. Over the course of four years, I built up a lot of relationships in the (holistic) community,” said Perkins. “I made a few phone calls and I was able to fill up the shop with a nice variety.”

The business grew and in 2019 Gaia’s Gifts soon expanded to a larger space in its current location, at 16 Broad Street. The product lines have expanded as well over time. In addition to various forms of stones and crystals, the store offers tapestries, wind chimes, jewelry, natural products, incense, clothing and even some local art.

Throughout the year it hosts a variety of holistic workshops including different forms of meditation through sound or voice guided, tea and cacao ceremonies, various readers and guest holistic healers. Perkins herself teaches 2 classes: “Conversation with Crystals – how to use stones and crystals in your everyday life” and “The Art of Primitive Rug Hooking – a monthly meet-up crafting group. Private one-on-one sessions can be booked for Healing Touch, a tarot & oracle reading, a detoxifying ionic foot bath, a gong sound healing or a biomat nap – a one hour session on an amethyst mat.

“One needs a lot of perseverance to get to this point,” said Perkins. “People come in for different reasons but mainly because they want to feel good. A lot of people still don’t know what the store is about but will then come by, have a conversation and be grateful they came in.”

And Washington Borough is so grateful for Ellen Perkins, this year’s Business Person of the Year.

The event is open to the public. For ticket information go to www.washingtonbid.org, email admin@washingtonbid.org, or call 908-689-4800.