Aromatherapy bar opens in NJ

2000-12-25

It is after work on a cold December evening, and Ray Faust adjourns to his favorite cafe to unwind...

Boonton, NJ, Dec. 25 - It is after work on a cold December evening, and Ray Faust adjourns to his favorite cafe to unwind. He pulls up a bar stool and orders a cappuccino. On the bar next to his cup is an oddly shaped class tube with clear liquid pooling at the bottom. Faust bends over, inhaling slowly.

It's like very relaxing,"" said Faust, who owns an electronics company. He is breathing in lavender and chamomile essential oils being circulated through a nebulizer, an aromatherapy device most often found in homes or hospitals. "I feel great," he said.

Faust may be one of the first Americans to pay ip at the bar for a shot of aromatherapy - a blast of essential plant and herb oils for sale at $2 for 15 minutes - along with the tea, quiches and gift baskets of scented candles at a cafe called Uncommon Grounds.

Experts in the $300 million aromatherapy industry have never heard of an establishment in this country where customers pay to inhale.

They had that a while back in Japan. They called them aroma cocktails," said David Schiller, education director of the International Aromatherapy and Herb Association in Phoenix. But, he said, "I've never seen them commercialized in this country."

Anne Bryant and Sandi Stokem opened the cafe in August next to a grim strip of auto body and machine shops in this old, blue-collar town which recently has become home to a growing population of artists and a Main Street with galleries and eclectic gift shops sharing space with neighborhood delis.

Uncommon Grounds has three distinct businesses.

-In the middle, customers can grab a nebulizer at the bar framed by heavy, purple drapes, comfy couches and coffee table reading like Rainer Rilke and Sylvia Plath's poetry.

Although experts disagree on whether aromatherapy can heal physical problems or merely prompt psychological responses that improve mood, Stokem and Bryant said they got into the business to relieve both stress and pain.

Bryant, who once ran companies that sold hair accessories, said she had become burned out in the corporate world and switched businesses in 1993 soon after a friend introduced her to a bottle of lavender.

Since beginning her wholesale business, she said she has become more relaxed and quit smoking and drinking.

My whole life is meditative now," she said. At Uncommon Grounds, she sponsors night workshops on topics like past-life regression and ""the angels in your life."

Stokem, 43, turned to scented oils in the 1980's to help her manage chronic back pain and sciatica. She met Bryant when they both lived in Oakland and went into business together.

Glenn O'Neill, a bookstore employee who lives in Boonton, discovered the store soon after it opened, and soon after his mother passed away. He had never tried aromatherapy.

First time I did it, I was on a high. A good high, that is," said O'Neill, bending over to take in wafts of lavender. He says the shop - and its aromas - is helping him to get over his mother's death.

Sue O'Neill, Glenn's sister, said she used to walk, do yoga, and burn scented candles to relax, but never quite go there. She now keeps oils in terra cotta jars and comes to Uncommon Grounds after work at an engineering firm.

"It's got good karma," she said and then bent over to sniff some peppermint.

AP2000 Associate Press