Business of the Week: Botanica Shango Helps the Faithful and the Curious

Nestled between a dry cleaners and burger restaurant on Folsom Boulevard is a store that likely makes many people curious: . The small religious store in the shopping center on the corners of Folsom Boulevard and Bradshaw Road, has only been open for six months, and welcomes the curious as they come in and ask questions about the different religious items for sale.

With everything from candles and incense to sage and voodoo dolls, the shop has materials for those practicing Catholicism, Wicca, Santeria, Palo Monte, Voodoo and Obeah, as well as little odds and ends that attract those that aren’t practicing a particular religion.

Rosemont Patch spoke with owner Peter Delgado, a Rosemont resident for 11 years, about his faith, his store and the ways in which he helps people practice their religion.

Tell me a little bit about your religious background.

“What I practice, it’s called Palo Monte. And so it’s a religion that comes from Africa. When Africans were brought as slaves to this country, they brought their traditions and their culture here and a lot of things that they brought, and to this day is still practiced, is the religion. And so it has spread throughout the world and so now we practice it as well. In our family—our family is from El Salvador and it reached all the way over there because from El Salvador, we’ve practiced this for the past four generations. So the last one in my family was my great grandmother and then from there was passed on to me.”

What would you say is the best part about running a business? The hardest?

“The best part of running the business is meeting the customers, getting to know them, talking to them and being able to help them with their needs. I wouldn’t say I give them advice, I’d say I give them a lending hand. I listen to them and sometimes, people can come and they have problems and they’re just talking and talking nonstop and then finally, once they’re done talking, I’m looking at them and they tell me ‘I already know the answer.’ I look at them and I smile and I say, ‘wonderful!’ and they go from there.

“The hardest part, for me, it’s been not being able to help a customer. It’s been difficult because there are problems where it’s kind of like, you know, from a religious aspect, it’s kind of like: ‘What can you do to help this person?’ So at that point, the only thing you can do is give them a word of council and a word of hope that everything will get better.”

Tell me a little bit about your customers.

“It’s interesting because it’s multicultural. We have African-Americans, some Hispanics, Anglos or Caucasians, Filipinos, Chinese–we have a different mixture of customers that come to the store from females to males, no age limit—I mean, from young ones that are like 20 years old to, I have a customer that comes here and she’s 80 years old and she’s been practicing Santeria for the past, I would say 20 years. So, you know, it’s a different age and they love what they do. Some practice Santeria, some practice Palo, some practice Obeah from Trinidad, we have customers from Trinidad that come here, we have customers from Haiti that practice Voodoo and then we have, of course, those customers that are just faithful Catholics and they come because we have—according to what they tell me, we sell the candles at the cheapest price in all of Sacramento, so thank God we can do that to cater to a community.”

How would you describe the environment in the store?

“Lively. Happy. I mean, people come here—from people that practice spirituality, they say that there’s a different feeling in this store than other stores that sell this. They say that you come here and you feel kind of like…you can actually open and talk and it’s not that secluded or hidden or dark. People say that they feel open. I like to keep the ambiance going, to flow, and people feeling what they want, the positive energy.”

How has the community reacted to your business so far?

“Thank God, very well. Very, very well. I mean, there’s a lot of people that come in and ask questions like: ‘What is this for? What is that?’ and so when I start explaining to them about the religion and the practice, some get a little bit freaked out and immediately the question is: ‘Well, isn’t that like Satan worshiping?’ and so I have to stop them and explain to them. But thank God the community has responded well. We’ve had customers that come in here and say: ‘I just wanted to see what you have,’ and when they see we have sage, or incense, or oils, they’re like: ‘Whoa, well, I don’t practice, but I love sage,’ or, ‘I love the incense,’ so they go ahead and purchase that.”

Botanica Shango, located at 9673 Folsom Blvd., is open from 1o a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Delgado is there to help you figure out your needs and to answer any questions you may have about the purpose of certain items. You can call the store at 916-364-5022 or visit its website at www.botanicashango.com.