Peoria’s Northwoods Mall has a new touch of magic.
Mother-and-son duo Becky Lyons and Jordan Reeser, owners of Artworks of Nature, have relocated their collection of crystals and metaphysical treasures to their new location on War Memorial Drive, tucked between Maurices and 3D With a Twist on the mall’s upper level.
Since the store’s opening in 2019, it previously ran out of 216 N. Main Street in Creve Coeur, but sat in a hard-to-find spot where Lyons and Reeser struggled to gain as much business as they would have liked.
Like a work of magic, the new space in a central Peoria area has already beckoned more witches, crystal enthusiasts and curious minds than ever, Lyons said. She and Reeser opened the doors April 9, closing their Creve Coeur store shortly after to focus on making their future a glowing one.
“When we came over here, we had so many people that had no idea we had a store at Creve Coeur for four years, so we’re kind of hitting the new customer base over here which is kind of nice,” Lyons said. “But we do get people from Galesburg, Springfield, Bloomington, Chicago.”
Expanding from tent to storefront
While the Creve Coeur location was only about 1,000 square feet, Reeser said, the mall location encompasses close to 6,000. With more space and several rooms in the store, Reeser and Lyons are planning to open an apothecary area along with a room for wire-wrapping and other jewelry classes, which Reeser taught periodically at the store’s first location.
“We had that stuff over in Creve Coeur, but we didn’t have much space for it,” Reeser said.
The change was overwhelming at first, Lyons said, but opens up more possibilities their previous store simply did not have room to offer.
“We didn’t think we could fill the place, and I mean, we almost feel like now we’re going to open these back rooms probably sooner than later,” she said.
The shop’s story goes back to 2016, when Reeser began making and selling hat pins at farmer’s markets and summer festivals in the Peoria area.
Reeser said festivalgoers often asked to trade crystals for hat pins, so he and Lyons began traveling to Tuscon, Arizona, for the annual Tuscon Gem and Mineral Show to source rocks. Around 2019, they began taking their finds to the local festivals, a journey that would eventually lead them to open a storefront.
“We were in a 10-by-10 tent,” Reeser said. “And we went from that to this in five years.”
Showcasing the work of artists worldwide
For Lyons, Artworks of Nature was a perfect way to blend her work with Reeser’s. As a nurse at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, she began doing medical and outreach work in Haiti in 2007. After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Lyons opened a school there and started her own nonprofit, Life’s Path.
Lyons and Reeser still attend several shows each year, and also purchase crystals from their countries of origin, such as the Larimar stone exclusive to the Dominican Republic.
While some metaphysical shops do not purchase goods from artists directly, Lyons said Artworks of Nature prioritizes fair trading, cutting out the middleman and sourcing goods from local artists not just in Peoria but across the globe.
“Fair trade is making sure that we don’t go in and exploit them, like ‘I’ll give you ten cents for this and then we come back and sell it for $15,'” she said.
On the shop’s walls hang dozens of metal lizards, butterflies, turtles and more, shaped and painted from oil drums by Haitian artists. Glowing in the store’s windows are Turkish lamps directly from Istanbul, and many of the shop’s other items come from places like Guatemala and Honduras.
“It supports a lot of artists too who are out trying to just make it,” she said.
While Reeser said the biggest draw has been crystals, many people also come for the store’s apothecary products, including medicinal herbs and Kenyan tea that provide an alternative to pharmaceutical medicine. He and Lyons pride themselves on the variety Artworks of Nature is able to offer, making their location in the mall a one-stop shop even for those with little experience in spirituality and nature.
“That was the thing, too, over in (Creve Coeur): you have to want to go to a rock shop,” he said. “So this is going to help us a lot because if you’re at the mall, you’re here to shop.”
‘In here, it’s just nothing but love’
Lyons said she and Reeser are working on bettering the shop’s website, aiming to eventually offer online ordering within the next year. The pair often video-call customers who are too far away to visit, giving them the opportunity to see up close and order the items they want.
With a focus on supporting artists and those in need of recognition, Artworks of Nature provides a space for people of any background or interest level can come to connect with nature and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere. A goal for 2026 or beyond, Lyons said, is to host a rock show inside the mall in conjunction with other local metaphysical shops.
Kim DePasse, a certified Reiki master and oracle reader, was a loyal customer at the store’s Creve Coeur location before becoming a permanent fixture. After forming a friendship with Becky and Jordan, she now manages the front desk at the Northwoods location.
DePasse said she appreciates how welcoming of an environment Artworks of Nature creates, where people of any age, religion, race or political view are welcome inside.
“Keep the politics, keep your bigotry, keep it at the door, because in here, it’s just nothing but love,” she said.
Rocks and nature are universal, DePasse emphasized.
“From the smallest of child, to old, to every culture… It’s just a place where everybody’s respectful to everybody when you’re in here, and it’s just like everything melts away. We’re just people.”
