WARE – Ware is host to Talk of the Town – a unique destination retail store experience with holistic and alternative services. The business has a soup-to-nuts product range, from selling crystals and gemstones, incense, herbs, candles, holistic and wellness products to jewelry, antiques, shabby chic furniture, silk floral arrangements and their own line of designer soap and lotions. The store has one of the largest collections of therapeutic crystal singing bowls in the state, which are made of different types of crystals and gemstones. But Talk of the Town doesn’t simply offer goods for purchase.

In addition to their retail, Talk of the Town offers many types of classes as well as one-on-one sessions that involve becoming more spiritually conscious. Holy Fire Reiki, Past Life Regression, Meditations, Ego State Integrations, Tarot, mediumship, Aura and Chakra activations and clearings and even spirit clearings.

Owner Keith Chouinard said he normally suggests an Empathic Consulting Session as a first step with people that are new to this type of work and would like to find out how they can be assisted.
“We do not believe in forcing our beliefs, awareness or knowledge on people,” said Chouinard. “We facilitate holding space that if people want to know more, they can.”

Chouinard is an empathic therapist. He offers psychic and spiritual work using his ability of communicating with spirit in sessions with clients and students. He works with Holy Fire Reiki which is a modality of energy work that assists, and facilitates, a person to become more spiritually conscious. It works with a person’s free will and it allows deeper experiences of one’s spirit and discernment in doing so. He is also a clinical hypnotherapist, trained from Winchester Hospital, that helps people with the integration of their many states of consciousness.

Chouinard told Reminder Publishing he has had psychic visions since he was a child, seeing ahead into much of his life and world events. He said he suffered from pre-PTSD as a child due to the traumatic events he saw and felt as well as traumatic events that would happen in the world.

“Much of my life I’ve been working on recovering from being conscious of world events before they happen,” Chouinard explained. “In doing so I strive to talk about these things to assist others who deal with them as well. There is a narrative in the world, that many people are unaware of, that subjugates people from their true connection to spirit and soul and I facilitate circles and classes to assist people in recovering from that.”

Chouinard offers therapeutic work to help people find balance and ground.

“A lot of my work in life right now is to help hold space for people that are going through things of this nature,” Chouinard responded. “Having a store that offers many different types of products, as well as fun things that people can learn and work with to experience a deeper yet enjoyable experience of life, helps balance the depth of the work I offer.”

The name Talk of the Town came about because Chouinard would host and facilitate circles and talks. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Chouinard said they hosted the events in their offices above the store, in their West Brookfield office and in the store itself. Since the coronavirus pandemic, they have been doing most of their circles and talks online, which can be accessed worldwide.

“We have a large following all around,” Chouinard. “Helping people is the most rewarding part for me, offering a service that has depth and is needed in the world. We really try to make the store an experience and that I think is why people respond to it. We’re always trying to find something fun, unique and different - items you wouldn’t normally find in your average store.”

Talk of the Town is located at 85 Main St. Their summer hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit their website at www.talkofthetownwarema.com or on their Facebook page. For questions, call 858-5172 or email keithchouinard@gmail.com.