Botanicas Blossom for Variety of Customers

Candles, one of the most popular items in the shops, are often made by larger candle companies. One popular brand is Eternalux, which produces novena candles -- some decorated with English or Spanish writing and pictures of saints.

Although candles sell for about $3 each, they make up a large portion of the day-to-day sales. For an extra fee -- up to $25 -- some shops dress candles individually for customers, adding oils and powders.

"We have a weekly money base that comes in from candles and other supplies, including baths, floor washings and items for new initiates into the religion," said Ceasar Leceau, a practitioner of Santeria and an employee at Echevarria's shop. The average sale at the shop is $10 to $15, he said.

Echevarria, who is Salvadoran, said he opened his shop 10 years ago with $10,000 he made when he sold a small limousine service in New York. He started the business out of his apartment, where he prepared herbs for his friends. He identified a market niche when he went in search of a botanica to buy the herbs. While the shops were numerous in New York, he recalled, there was only one -- since closed -- in the District at the time.

His Adams Morgan shop on 18th Street NW attracts tourists as well as traditional clientele. In the window is a life-size statue of Yemaya, a black Madonna-like figure holding a white baby, a scene that often piques the interest of passersby.

Echevarria said sales in his shop total as much as $5,000 a month. He said he has run newspaper ads and holds free classes for those interested in the religion, many of whom are students from Georgetown and Howard Universities.

Owners of some other botanicas in the area said their monthly sales range from $2,000 to $4,000.

Libia Arias, who owns Botanica San Joaquin in Arlington, said she opened her shop six years ago after her husband established himself in the area reading palms and tarot cards. "People were constantly knocking on my door and looking for suggestions on how to take care of whatever advice [my husband] gave them," Arias said. "So we decided to open the botanica and offer merchandise."

Maria Encarnacion worked at the store her nephew owned on Georgia Avenue. The shop, which opened two years ago, closed last week to relocate. Business isn't bad, but things have gotten tougher with competition, she said.

"They saw there was only a few and now everyone wants a part of the business," she said. "It has hurt business -- there are less people coming." Encarnacion said she has owned a botanica in her native Dominican Republic for 14 years.

Shop owners say the demographics of botanica customers now include all races and faiths. Leceua attributed an increase in African Americans shoppers to an effort to reconnect with their roots.

"They want to remove the slave connotations -- strip it of its Catholic influence and make it more African," Leceau said. In the Deep South a voodoo-related faith, loosely referred to as "roots," "hoodoo" or "Conjure Man," is an African American adaptation.

Staff researcher Carmen Chapin contributed to this report.