Candles, tea and massages. New beauty and wellness shop coming to Tacoma
A new beauty and wellness shop is coming to Tacoma, and it might look familiar.
Ritual opens April 11 at 3001 Sixth Ave. and will sell goodies like candles, tea and skin-care products, along with offering a number of self-care services.
Owner Amalia Alvarado has transformed the space from what used to be La Paloma, a gift shop run by her mother, Molly.
After her mother decided to close La Paloma in early March, Alvarado took over. While she’ll carry over a few aspects of La Paloma, Alvarado said Ritual is a different concept — one where customers are encouraged to slow down and focus on self-care.
How the businesses came to be
La Paloma opened in 2022 on North 21st Street, before moving to Sixth Ave. last year.
The gift shop sold plants, clothes, bags, balms, jewelry and other handmade goods, and often held pop-ups or mini marketplaces with other businesses.
Alvarado, who went to cosmetology school and had her own studio, said it just made sense to team up with her mother, so she set up shop in the back of La Paloma to offer different esthetician services.
“Me and my mom are very close, and we’re always talking business,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado said the shop was always going to be passed down to her, but she wasn’t sure what it would look like until fairly recently.
On March 8, Molly Alvarado posted on Facebook that she would be closing La Paloma as a retail space to be closer to her grandchildren, which are split between Tacoma and Los Angeles.
Since then, Amalia Alvarado has been working to make the space her own. While La Paloma was a lively community space, Ritual is more zen.
What customers can expect
“Beauty practices should be something we don’t rush through … it needs to be a daily ritual,” Alvarado said.
The inside of Ritual is filled with earth tones and aesthetically-placed products, with a pleasant, calming aroma helped by sage, candles and incense. The front door reads, “This is a quiet space.”
Different types of teas, candles, soaps and supplements line the shelves, and off to the side is an area for massages (including scalp massage), plus lash and brow treatments. Ritual also will offer waxing, sugaring, body brushing and body wraps.
“I’m kind of blending wellness, beauty, self-care overall into one space,” Alvarado said. “You can come here … get a beauty service or a body service, and then you can shop for how to take care of yourself at home.”
The inspiration for Ritual came from Alvarado’s own rituals, which are important as a busy mom of three kids.
“My ritual every morning is my coffee. Don’t talk to me before I have my coffee,” she said.
She said she also loves burning Palo Santo, aromatic wood that comes from a tree native to Mexico and Central America, which will be sold at the shop.
Customers will be available to buy products online, either for pickup or delivery.
Alvarado also plans to continue hosting marketplaces outside the shop from time to time as La Paloma did, and she said her mother will sell items from La Paloma in one part of the shop.
Ritual will focus on selling items from women and BIPOC vendors just as La Paloma did, which is important to Alvarado because of her Mexican-American and Indigenous background.
“I want to help people that are like me — moms and women and people of color,” Alvarado said.
Once Ritual has its grand opening on April 11, regular hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Thursday to Sunday, closed Monday through Wednesday.
