Xanadu Semaphore

Xanadu is another one of your mystical-​gypsy style stores which stocks your crystals and stones and sarongs and bibles and buddahs… along with many other bits and pieces. I’ve been to many ‘spiritual’ stores before, and even though it looks a little dodgy from the outside, it’s actually quite nice indoors, without being too cluttered and dirty looking like many others. There are some beautiful mosaic bowls and some gorgeous jewellery. Definitely one of the better stores I’ve found which stocks these sorts of objects.

Xanadu is sooooo Semaphore.
And I mean this in the most complimentary way possible. Every self-​respecting beach bum should have a ready supply of essentials like incense, candles, hacky sacks, trippy artwork, hammocks, tie dye, cheesecloth robes, tarot cards, Buddha statues and gypsy fabrics. Xanadu is the place to get it all (and more).
Despite being firmly geared towards the new-​age hippy, it’s actually a lovely shop for a browse — big and spacious, there are some great imported furniture pieces and accessories scattered about. There’s a global, ethnic-​inspired flavour to a lot of the products on offer as well: it’s kind of like Bauhaus, only not at all design-​conscious and a little bit daggy — but endearingly so.
Something for the hippy in us all.

I had passed by this store many times over the years and it wasn’t until today that I ventured in. I expected to find Olivia Newton John gunning around on some pink or gold roller skates… she was mad hot hey?!
Anywho…no roller skating nymphos unfortunately, however there was some pretty funky stuff. I am not really one for new-​age gear, spirituality and odd smelling burny things, but there is usually some funky art, furniture, pottery and even the odd hackey sack to hold my interest. Bingo… exactly what I found!
There is all of that other zen garb also, but there is enough funky stuff to keep those with short attention spans, like myself going for a good 10 or 15 minutes! I particularly liked the selection of stupidly loud Hawaiian shirts… my girlfriend didn’t let me buy one. Looks like I need to launch a Ninja Mission… Shhhhhhhh.