Sandy Smith, left, owner of Gothic City in downtown Lodi, recently opened the shop and sells various items relating to the Goth and punk lifestyle, including crystal balls. The inverted image of Smith's granddaughter, Autumn Limón, 4, is seen through the crystal ball. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Dealing the dark

New Lodi business offers everything Gothic

It's too late for Valentine's Day, but Mother's Day is around the corner.

How about getting Mom some suckers with a worm in it?

Or some "Death Mints?"

How 'bout some nail polish called "Rigormortis?"

Perhaps a purse, clothes or mouse pad with an "evil fairy" on it?

You can get these and a whole lot more at a downtown Lodi business called Gothic City. It opened a week ago on Pine Street.

Owners Sandy and George Smith anticipate a large following among teens and twentysomethings as they offer gothic and punk clothes, make-up, body jewelry — you name it.

All the accessories for the "Goth" lifestyle are available here in Lodi.

"If you want blue hair, you'll put it in your hair," co-owner Sandy Smith said while describing "Punky Colour."

Gothic City has belts with skulls and other Goth apparel in downtown Lodi. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Although Gothic City isn't for everyone, neighboring businesswoman Lorrie Harper isn't concerned.

"They could have done it in a different way," said Harper, who owns Kingdom of Four Paws. "It could have been scary. The store is done very decently."

Sandy and George Smith, who have lived in Lodi about 25 years, opened Gothic City on March 7 on Pine Street, just a skull's throw west of the Lodi Arch.

Sandy Smith said she first intended to sell fairies, but her goal evolved to a lot more than that. She combed the Internet and found all sorts of gothic and punk items. She ordered them, and now she's selling them in the store.

"All the teenagers are going to be (shopping here)," Sandy Smith said. "There's no competition in Lodi."

Daughter Chrystal added, "All my friends have to go to Stockton."

Chrystal Smith prefers punk to Goth, but she has three or four sisters-in-law, plus their friends, who are heavy into everything Gothic.

"They've been trying to get me to go to Gothic clubs in Modesto and Sacramento," she said.

The Smith family said they have received positive feedback from young people who come in to browse and shop. One man, about 19 years old, told the Smiths he had 14 body piercings. One ear was so heavily pierced he needed stitches to close the wound. He also had several piercings on his chin.

Eyeliner pencils and eye shadow can be purchased at Gothic City to accommodate a more Goth lifestyle. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

"It looked like nails were coming out of his chin," Chrystal Smith said.

The male customers seem to shop for body jewelry such as ear gauges and eyelets and jewelry for their navel, tongue and nose, Chrystal Smith said. Women want fish-netted shirts, lip rings and "industrial bars" that enter through two parts of their ear.

Boys want to buy knives, although a sign on the glass cabinet strictly says that customers must be at least 18 years old to purchase a knife.

Both genders enjoy the Manic Panic make-up, where they can paint their face white and add dark colored make-up, Sandy Smith said.

"Most of the kids come from pretty wealthy families," said George Smith, who retired from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. three years ago. "Most of the make-up is all upper end."

One day recently, a woman bought some punk make-up for her daughter, George Smith said.

"As long as my daughter keeps her grades up," George Smith recalled the customer saying.

Harper, the Kingdom of Four Paws owner, calls Gothic City an opportunity to add variety to Lodi. "It adds one more boutique for downtown," she said.

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.