By Anthony Rifilato
Daze, a glossy novelty shop which opened two months ago, is neo-hippie chic and offers everything from incense to water pipes, and is aiming to carve out its own niche market in Nassau.
The brainchild of two recent college graduates, Kim Tasik and Eric
Berger, Daze is the alternative store with appeal across generations -- from 21st century anti-globalization protesters to ex-patriots of the 1960's.
"I think the idea of hippie culture is ageless," said Tasik, of Valley
Stream. "The older people still support the culture and it's a different feel from corporate America."
After they finished college -- Berger at Columbia University and Tasik at Katherine Gibbs -- the duo, who have been friends for four years, kicked around the idea of opening a hippie-themed shop.
"I went to Germany and Amsterdam over the summer and saw similar stores," said Berger, who lives in Seaford.
Tasik was determined to open the shop, and Berger figured it would be a good business venture. "She said she was going to do it with or without me," Berger said.
Surprisingly, opening the store progressed quite rapidly. The two came up with the idea in September of last year, and after looking in other parts of Nassau, found a receptive landlord in Baldwin and proceeded to set up shop.
"The response has been pretty positive," Berger said of customer and community response.
With T-shirts that shout "anti-establishment" and "wage slave" as well as books on the ill effects of the club drug Ecstasy and classics such as "Reefer Madness," Daze is a colorful boutique that spans the psychedelic color spectrum.
One side of the store is displayed with T-shirts, incense, and other novelty items. The other side of the store teems with body jewelry, hemp clothing, posters, flags and books.
"We try to find stuff that's unique and individual that other people
don't have," Tasik said.
The holy grail for the true hippie connoisseur is in the back of the
store, cordoned off for those 18 and older. Here, tobacco pipes,
ranging from the miniature to the gigantic and creative, are on display. There is also something called "detox liquid," as well as rolling papers, and a rare Cheech and Chong lunch box with a pipe and lighter.
"We had people in their 60s buying things from the back," said Tasik.
Last week, a steady stream of people were in and out of the store, some perusing the front and some heading straight for the back.
"This place is very good," said a Bellmore man in his early twenties, who wished to remain anonymous. "Before I could only find places like this in Greenwich Village."
Others in the store, such as one group of young men, had similar praise for the shop. "Everything is cool," said Chris Weber of Long Beach. "They need to do more advertising."
In the back, a group of eight young men leafed through rolling papers and looked at the different pipes, then looked through the books and T-shirts in the front.
"If you told your parents that you're going into a head shop, they'd
probably think you're smoking weed," said one man, who asked not to be named. "But it's fun to get out and see new and interesting things."
