MAPLE PARK – Josie Hopkins has transitioned from antiques to new age at her property along Route 38.
After 26 years that ended with gradual downsizing, Josie's Antiques was phased out and her nearly three-acre property has been transformed into Essence Healing Home, a spiritual getaway that includes a garden, classes for spiritual wellness and overnight lodging among the several sheds, barns and buildings on her property.
“It’s a place where people can come that is tranquil, [for a] higher consciousness community where people of like minds are learning compassion and have the drive to learn about themselves,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins said the new business has only been running for a couple of months, and it happened over a “natural progression” – so natural, in fact, that Hopkins said she didn’t know she had to apply for a new special-use permit from DeKalb County to allow the grounds to be used for its new purpose, while also still including some retail.
“Because this would be using former agricultural buildings for a service use, it requires a special-use permit,” DeKalb County Planning, Zoning & Building Director Paul Miller told the Planning and Zoning Committee this week.
The committee unanimously voted to give the permit a favorable recommendation, and it will go before the full County Board on Sept. 16.
“I didn’t know I had to have [a new special-use permit],” Hopkins said. “It was such a natural evolution. I just switched furniture. I really didn’t know I’d have to go through the whole process like I did with antique shops.”
The changes, from the planning and zoning standpoint, will be “little or nothing,” Miller said, “except that there are buildings that will be used for the retreat that were not used as part of Josie’s Antiques.”
Over the years, it was the visitors to Josie’s Antiques that helped mold its change, Hopkins said.
“Our land is very special,” she said. “When antiquers came, they said it felt so good out here, and more and more people said that it was a comfort place to them. My passion shifted how I wanted to help people.”