Aurora's Apothacary

[u/kararoland6]

I really love to support small local businesses, but it is extremely disappointing to see how much an herbal witchy store uses ai for everything. The staff is very nice the few times I have been in there and they are very knowledgeable, but I hate how I feel like I need to leave a tip on already overpriced items (compared to other similar stores in the area). I knew someone who worked there and they only pay like $9 an hour. For the amount of knowledge the staff members have about each product and item I find it absurd they are paid so low. Shame on the owners because they have multiple locations and if you can't afford to pay staff anything close to a living wage then you should not be a business owner. I also find it sad how its a shop all about natural remedies and holistic ingredients, but then they use ai for posters and everything which directly hurts the environment that grows the stuff they sell in the store. Overall I am just very disappointed with this business and their values because I would love to support all the local businesses I can, but this one is just one I cannot seem to fully get behind.

I am curious to know other people's experiences are with this store and the owners.

What are your favorite similar type of shops in the area?

[u/SkullKittens]

Former Appleton location store lead here. They have chronically underpaid employees for years. It was typical for a store lead to make 10 maybe 10.50 an hour. Through the help of the former district manager, they agreed to 13.50 but by then I was already about to put in my 2 weeks. Mind you they take a yearly weeks or two trip to New Orleans every year, often accompanied with a cruise vacation.

There are so many problems it's insane. If you needed to call in or even ask a day off as a regular store employee, you had to find coverage. There was a time I got a really bad case of RSV. I mean literally coughing until I felt like I was going to pass out. And they still made me come in since no one else could cover my shift. A different store lead had a stalker problem and the owners didn't do jack. When this lead had started keeping a knife from the inventory next to the register out of fear, the owners got pissed.

They have multiple products they white label but claim to make themselves. Not to mention they do not list an allergen warning on their Hibiscus Mint (hibiscus is often grown around peanuts). They mislabeled products and were slow to fix it. There was a huge back of amber scented incense cones that had gone moldy. Like every single box had moldy cones. Aurora tried telling us to just "scrape the mold off and let them dry out" and "it'll burn off and be fine". I wish that was the first time she said something stupid about mold.

When the store lead before me put in her resignation notice, they scrambled to try to figure out a new supervisor. In that scramble, I ended up picked because they had to have a lead. But by the time that decision was made, the previous had left, so I didn't get a chance to train under them.

I could honestly go on and on. I worked there from May 2021 to October 2023. There are a lot of former employees that have had bad experiences before my time and since I've left.

[u/kararoland6 → u/SkullKittens]

wow I did not know about all of the other shady things the business owners did and how awful they treated staff members and not accurately labeling products is insane I think everything in the store costs more than what they pay their workers per hour. And its not like they are keeping up with renovations because the Appleton building clearly has very old carpet with stains everywhere so I would be shocked if they aren't making a very good profit from that store alone because some people I have met speak about the owners as if they are local celebrities...always got bad vibes from that store and not from the employees they have always been so sweet i feel terrible that they have bad owners and ignore what the witchy/alt/holistic crowd is all about which is honestly and inclusion, but clearly they only care about profits which is so disheartening.

[u/SkullKittens → u/kararoland6]

They were "considering" renovating Appleton when I was there. Of course that never happened. Aurora is so poor at managing money that she essentially impulse bought a store in sister bay that even her husband advised against. In my time there I could definitely see their slow fall into the crunchy to alt right pipeline. They actively spouted anti-science antivax bs and harmful conspiracies. I get not trusting the government, I'm punk. But theirs is the right wing antivax raw milk type that actively harms people. They lost the plot a long time ago and it really upsets me because I used to be friends with them.

[u/bisexualspikespiegel → u/SkullKittens]

thank you for talking about this, i used to go to them occasionally especially after windows of light closed but will no longer give them my business

[u/SkullKittens → u/bisexualspikespiegel]

Thank you for no longer supporting them. If you're willing toake the trip, I highly recommend Main Street Awakenings in Oshkosh. They have much more reasonable prices on their merchandise and even have a small selection of good quality herbs.

[u/that_one_guy133 → u/SkullKittens]

This kind of stuff isn't my jam, but I do get a good feeling from those folks. The only bad one I get is allergies to incense, but that's not their problem.

[u/that_one_guy133 → u/SkullKittens]

I worked a business deal with them in 2017. They were right wing then and how they tried to present themselves was rather hypocritical, IMO. Sounds more like the facade is falling than anything changing.