Putting an end to wicked ways
Around this time last year, Laurie Stathopoulos and Christian Day weren't talking. In fact, they couldn't even be in the same room. The two Salem witches had filed charges against each other after Stathopoulos smashed a lamp over Day's head.
The bad blood stemmed from a proposal to expand fortune-telling licenses in the city. Day, who has run the Festival of the Dead, a psychic fair, each October for six years, wanted the city to create an ordinance to further market Salem as the paranormal capital of the country.
Stathopoulos, who owns the witch shop Crow Haven Corner, and a few other merchants opposed the idea of increasing psychic readings. Until last year, the city allowed a handful of shops to have fortune-telling licenses, and also allowed special psychic fairs, but did not enforce the regulation. The discussion hit a low point when parts of a raccoon were left on the entryways of two shop owners who opposed the ordinance. Police arrested a psychic after the event. Hard feelings lingered.
The City Council eventually approved the ordinance, allowing an unlimited number of fortune-telling licenses to be issued, as long as applicants underwent criminal background checks and were Salem residents or Salem business owners for at least a year.
Stathopoulos, who has owned Crow Haven Corner for 11 years, said she thought that allowing more psychics into the city would cut into her fortune-telling business, and the character of the downtown. "I didn't want it to be tacky and I still don't," said Stathopoulos.
After a mediation session with her attorney and Day, the two decided that the new ordinance could help bolster the city's economy and bring more tourists into Salem.
"Sometimes more can be better," said Stathopoulos, who began working with Day last winter on marketing her own psychic fair. Day, a graphic artist, designed her psychic fair ad in the Salem October guide Haunted Happenings, and redesigned several logos for her store. In turn, Stathopoulos helped Day launch his new witch shop, Hex.
Stathopoulos called her vendors and persuaded them to deliver merchandise to Day even though he had never run a witch shop before.
"I ended up having tens of thousands of dollars worth of product. So without her my store would be half-empty," said Day.
As for the psychic ordinance, Stathopoulos and Day agree that business is up over last year. Day's psychic fair employs 20 fortune-tellers, and these days Stathopoulos has seven licensed readers who each receive $30 for 15- minute sessions.
Day said the ordinance is proof that more competition can be better for business owners.
"Las Vegas began as little more than one casino and a zoot-suit singer, and I'm sure back then people thought, 'Oh no, we can't have another casino.' Well, we all saw how that turned out."
Steven Rosenberg can be reached at srosenberg@globe.com. 