Cosmic History

To paraphrase the Grateful dead, ‘What a strange wonderful trip it’s been’. Rewind back to March 10th, 1997, 9am and Mark Carswell is opening the door to his new business, Cosmic Corner. Located on High Street, Christchurch, this was in fact the only time Cosmic actually was on a corner! The shop was on the entrance to the Westpac building. As Mark says “I had some pipes, some herbals and one cabinet! Then that first day a customer said to me “get more stuff”! So I did!”

Mark wanted the store to have ‘a vibe’ and to be a store that was about personal freedoms. “I wanted a place where people choose to try the new and be themselves. A meeting place...a social venue. I wanted staff to be like party hosts for all those who came in”. The first day's takings were suitably auspicious - $69! From those early experiences, the Cosmic story began to truly unfold...

The original Funkstore then moved three doors down High Street, where it still is. The staff and ideas expanded and he definitely got more stuff! “In the first year we had 3 staff and maybe 100 product lines. Today we have 80 staff over NZ and several thousand product lines.

There have been plenty of other interesting changes.

2000 saw Cosmic Wellington start on Cuba Street, with original staff A.J and Iain still on board. That year the the laws restricting the selling of pipes made life interesting. As Mark says, “ June 30th 2000 we were selling pipes. July 1st...we were selling necklaces with metal parts!’

In 2002 the Christchurch Funkstore began the ‘hole in the wall’ 24hour service for the party driven. It was a bold move, but proved incredibly popular.

2003 saw The Palms Funkstore in The Shirley Palms open. As Mark says “It’s gotta be the only shop in a suburban mall in the world that sells herbal highs and pipes! We wanted to turn heads and break down barriers”. Cosmic Dunedin also opened in 2003, because Mark loved Dunedin so much and wanted a reason to visit his past university party town. Dunedin soon offered their own open all weekend window, again to great success.

In 2004 Cosmic opened Cosmic 24's in Welly and Auckland, to cater to those in need of party goodies 24/7. 2004 also saw Cosmic taking ticketing seriously. In three years over 3000 gigs and festivals all around New Zealand have had their tickets printed and sold at Cosmic stores. Mark sums it up nicely when he points out, "We love freaking the big guys out! Ticketek refuse to allow us to sell tickets for any of their gigs - an overseas owned multinational running scared I would guess!"

So in summary, 11 years has brought the total to six stores, open across the country, all hours, providing fun and funky goods for all the party people of Aotearoa. From selling liquid Guarana from Brazil through to the banning of pipes, then Nos, and now BZP, Cosmic has survived and thrived thanks to great, diverse, ever-changing products, fantastically loyal customers and, as Mark is quick to emphasize, “ a ton of really talented, fun, hardworking long-term staff”. Staff that have moved on have become Yoga Teachers, mothers and fathers (there are 12 babies via staff meeting at Cosmic), professional street performers (take a bow, Nathan!) and Jeremy even ran away and joined a circus!

After recently celebrating Cosmic's 11th birthday, Mark remains committed to his initial vision - providing a space that caters to those funky individuals who celebrate each day Aotearoa brings, believe in fun and personal freedom, and stay young at heart! That, and supporting local music and culture whenever possible, continuing to ensure that there's always an alternative to the mainstream current in our society. And from here, Mark? “Well...we’re going to open more stores, improve ranges and continue having fun!” Sounds like a trip worth taking.