Jelle Hoefnagel spent his childhood selling pebbles on a blanket, now, he’s running a sensory retreat
Spirit Crystals has transformed the former Game unit at Highcross Leicester into a cave-like experience filled with 5,000 ethically-sourced crystals(Image: Supplied)
A new Highcross shop is proving such a sensation with shoppers that it’s already being hailed as a “sensory escape” from the city centre’s frantic bustle.
Spirit Crystals has taken over the former GAME unit, transforming the “blank white shell” into a “cave” filled with 5,000 crystals.
The shop is so popular that visitors are lining up to “crack their own geodes” and brew personalised potions, a far cry from the unit’s former life selling video games, unless they were buying a copy of Hogwarts Legacy.
The store’s in-house psychic is already fully booked until May after just four weeks of trading, giving some indication of just how quickly the shop has captured the imagination of Leicester shoppers.
Owner Jelle Hoefnagel, a former De Montfort University student in his early 20s, said every element from the 963Hz frequency music playing overhead to the thousands of ethically-sourced crystals visitors are encouraged to pick up and handle, was chosen with mental health and overstimulation in mind.
For Jelle, the business is the culmination of a passion that started before he even reached primary school.
The local traces his love of crystals back to his grandparents’ driveway, where at just four years old he would spend hours picking out the shiniest pebbles and selling them to passers-by from a blanket on the pavement.
Bringing that vision to life inside Highcross was no small undertaking. Jelle said he had never taken on a build of this scale before, having to learn everything from scratch, from dealing with contractors to understanding building regulations and lease agreements.
Spirit Crystals has transformed the former Game unit at Highcross Leicester into a cave-like experience filled with 5,000 ethically-sourced crystals(Image: Supplied)
He said the walls of the unit itself actually helped shape the final design, with their natural texture lending itself perfectly to the cave aesthetic he had always envisioned.
Jelle said: “It was a really blank canvas when we took it over, it was just plain white walls and a floor. But we came in with this vision of turning it into a cave, into this sensory experience as much as a shopping experience. Mark and the workmen helped me a lot in here.”
Spirit Crystals has taken over the former Game unit at Highcross Leicester, with its in-house psychic already fully booked until May after just four weeks of trading(Image: Graham Hebron)
He credited the Highcross team with going above and beyond to support him through the process, saying: “Highcross has been amazing. They gave me a lot of support [and] help around compliance, health and safety, everything really. Of course it was very hard because I’d never done it before, but they were very helpful.”
Jelle, who first opened a concept store at Derby’s Derbion shopping centre in 2023 after investing all of his savings into the project, spent 18 months planning the Highcross location before a single brick was laid.
He said the Leicester store represents a significant step up in every respect, adding: “Everything I learned in Derby over the past two years, I improved here. The shop fit is improved, the products are improved, the fixtures are improved – everything, really.”
As well as the psychic readings and geode-cracking station, shoppers can visit a dedicated potion-making area at the back of the store, filling a bottle with a personalised combination of crystals chosen to suit their own needs or those of a loved one.
The geode-cracking station at Spirit Crystals has proven particularly popular with families since the store opened at Highcross Leicester(Image: Supplied)
Jelle said: “It’s the most personalised gift you could buy on the high street. If you know someone needs some peace, some confidence, you can just make the perfect combination for them. No other high street shop does that.
“This is a quiet escape from the busy high street. There’s a lot of demand for people who are overstimulated. There are more people overstimulated now than ever before because of the fast-paced world. Your phone, everything. People just can’t relax.
“Every single display is a hands-on experience. You can spend half an hour there. It’s designed to be an escape. We don’t have music with lyrics, it’s only relaxing. Everything here is designed to be relaxing.”
The geode-cracking station has proven particularly popular with families since the store opened, with children as young as six able to take part in breaking open rocks to reveal the crystals hidden inside.
Jelle said he hopes Spirit Crystals offers something genuinely different to anything else currently available in the city centre, and has ambitions to expand the concept further across the UK.