New Eastown head shop features hand-blown glass pipes, wine glasses

Deborah Johnson Wood

Twenty years at Otter's Oasis in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek gave Battle Creek native Michael Bowman the itch to open his own head shop. And though he'd lived in Kentwood for a couple of years, he'd never heard of Eastown until a friend suggested it as the perfect place for his shop.

On February 1, Bowman opened Mystic Mill in the Windmill Building, 1436 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids.

"I was driving around and saw the Windmill Building," says Bowman, 43. "I rented it that day."

The building was previously a florist shop. Bowman said it was set up perfectly to display his hand-blown pipes and other goods. All he had to do was bring in some glass display cases and do some cleaning.

"The shop sells 98 percent glass which is all hand-blown, and we have hand-blown wine glasses," Bowman says. "We carry dicro jar pipes, spoons, bubblers, water pipes, steamrollers, wizards, scales and vaporizers. You can buy a pipe for $9 all the way up to $450."

Bowman's high-end products come from Texas and California. Local glass blower artist Joe Sherry, who owns an artglass shop at 235 S. Division, creates wine glasses designed by Sherry and Bowman. Soon, Bowman plans to offer customers a service to design their own wine glasses and their own pipes.

"I sell my products for tobacco use only, but I don't sell tobacco," Bowman says. "There are four other businesses in Eastown that sell tobacco and the Eastown Hookah Lounge. We worked around their inventory before we ordered ours.

"This store is all about peace, love and friendship," Bowman says. "I haven't seen a Bohemian lifestyle like this since I was in Amsterdam in 1985 on two-week leave from the service. I've done more good business in this first two weeks than I should have done in my first two months."

Mystic Mill is open Monday through Saturday, noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday, noon to whenever.

Source: Michael Bowman, Mystic Mill

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Have a development news tip for Rapid Growth? Contact us at [email protected].