Our Story
Homegrown with love, since 2017.
Cosmic Bazaar is a proudly South African, consciously created marketplace — spreading love & healing through products in harmony with Earth.
Think of our history as chapters in a book — each with its own unique plot. We also like to think of our business like a child: from first baby steps to going to grade one, it’s a journey… for both the child (Cosmic Bazaar) and the parents ;)
Inception · 2017–2018
Two dreamers, one lounge
Cosmic Bazaar birthed into being in May/June 2017. It was initially the brain child of two dreamers, two vagabond souls who wanted to create something new, something different, that we could invest our time and energy into, and that could in turn help others. We couldn't stand the thought of investing our energy into the dreams and schemes of others - we wanted something of our own.
And so Cosmic Bazaar was born. Quickly transforming into more than just 2 people, it evolved into collection of friends, family and healers - creating a platform to sell natural, conscious, holistic and healthy products. From the beginning, our goal was to bring sustainable, earth friendly, animal friendly, plant friendly products to the world, at affordable & accessible prices.
Cosmic Bazaar started in the lounge of the house we stayed in at the time (in Mowbray, Cape Town), not a garage like many other businesses. We stored products in our lounge and kitchen shelving, all whilst living with a few other housemates. This proved difficult.
We did our first market in the beginning of June 2017, bringing a new dream into reality. It was very spontaneous of us, and we sort of just winged it - who knew it would would turn into what it has become today. The first market we did was a second hand market at the Obs Community Hall. Cosmic Bazaar didn't have the extensive range it had today, it was pretty much just our Canna Salve, incense, a few crystals, some second hand clothes, smudge sticks, and a few second hand items we got from a charity shop. Not too bad for our first market. Well, that first market will always go down in history as a momentous day. We had a lot of fun and we did really well, making a few thousand rand that day! Showing us this dream of ours really had potential to be something big! At that point we didn't even have the name Cosmic Bazaar. Only in the weeks after did the name emerge.
A few weeks later...we did Grahamstown Art Fest - an 11 day festival in the Eastern Cape. Our range expanded into so much more - with lots of help from family and friends! Kombucha, crystals healing creams, more incense, more crystals, salt lamps, jewellery, honey, indigenous herbs, and an assortment of clothes and trinkets. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but those 11 days put us on the path to becoming a 'proper business' and really proved that we had what it takes to do anything.
From there we did (literally) hundreds of markets — and launched our little online store in late 2018.
Awaken · 2019
The manor in the Deep South
We moved to the dream location — a beautiful old manor house overlooking Cape Point — and Cosmic Bazaar got its very own office space. We exploded with the Cannabis Expos! And a real milestone: for the first time, Cosmic Bazaar had employees — the first few souls of what would become the star family.
New world · 2020–2021
Doors open in Glencairn
A few months before Covid, we started renting a small shop space down the road in Glencairn. After nine months of making it ours, we finally moved in and opened our doors to the world. The team kept growing — and part of the family moved to a farm in the Eastern Cape, where they still work from today.
Growing pains · 2022–2023
The warehouse in the fynbos
We rode the wave of Covid with expanded online sales and an ever-growing range, and moved to a warehouse on an incredible farm in Cape Point called Baskloof. New faces joined the team, and we learnt some hard lessons about growing too fast without good systems and structures.
Balance · 2024
Coming home to Earth Hub
In June 2024 we moved to another farm, our current home — Earth Hub, in Cape Town — and finally opened the shop we’d always dreamed of. We’re finding the balance between introvert & extrovert, heart & mind, abundance vs lack, structure vs flow — so that we can flourish in our new space.
Present & beyond
Ready for whatever comes
Eight of us now keep the bazaar turning — scattered between the Deep South in Cape Town, the Garden Route, and the Eastern Cape. Together with Celium, the platform our early dreams grew into, we now help other small businesses store, sell and ship their beautiful products too.
We’re ready for chapter six — and it’s already taking shape. Heading into 2027, we’ve got new plans for our expanded growth with Celium, carrying the network further than ever. Still very much at the beginning, and ready to go to the next level.
From the archives
Our “about us”, back in the day.
Written in the early days — it still touches our hearts :)
Cosmic Bazaar is our freedom. Developing this platform for our creation has been the doorway to our liberation! Our ethos as a company is to be as environmentally friendly and conscious as possible – this entails sourcing all of our products ethically and ensuring that everything in our store is 100% natural and sustainably produced. When possible, we source our products from our local community or within South Africa, thereby supporting our fellow brothers and sisters.
The purpose of this platform is to provide a space for creators, such as ourselves, who have products to sell, but may not have the means or time to develop their own web-stores, or to travel to markets on a weekly basis. As owners of this small business we know each and every one of our suppliers personally and have intimate knowledge of the sourcing and production processes. Many of our products are made by our family and friends, and most of them are homemade. We use each and every one of our products ourselves, and only sell things we are passionate about.
Another very important part of our ethos is our fundamental belief in the deep connection between all life on our beautiful planet Earth. We see and recognise this connection in everything and everyone we encounter, and we aim to honour this in all of our business practices. It is for this reason that we aim to give back as much as possible, and we are currently involved in several community upliftment initiatives and our company is supporting families in need throughout South Africa. Although our reach is small at present, we plan to grow these involvements in alignment with the growth of our company. We have incredible vision for our company and for its involvement in changing the lives of many of our Rastafarian brothers and sisters throughout SA, and we hope to extend our aid into many other communities in the future.
We want to thank both Mother Earth and Father Sky for all that they have done for us. We'd also like to thank all of our incredible friends and family members who have supported us in the most incredible ways. Our travels throughout SA, to several markets and festivals have connected us to the most incredible souls all over our beautiful country, and the network we've developed is better described as a family than anything else. We're both really proud of what we have achieved since our humble beginnings in June 2017, and we look forward to a bright and exciting future.
Thank you again for all of your support!
We love you!
Earth loves you!
And Great Spirit does too!Love, peace and light,
The Cosmic Clan.
Eco-centric community, not ego-centric capitalism.
Cosmic Bazaar is a social enterprise and registered NPC, based in South Africa. A social enterprise is a hybrid between a NGO/NPC (Non-Profit Company) and a Pty Ltd company.
Since our inception in 2017, our core has always been our ethos and mission. We're here to shift the way business is done, from ego-centric capitalism to eco-centric community.
Our primary way of doing business is by selling products that are sourced from other micro-enterprises, small scale farmers and suppliers that align with our ethos. We have our own small business incubator whereby we help support and fund people and their products, all the way from the idea, to getting it onto our platform to the public. It's also common for us to assist those that already have a product, and need it distributed and marketed to customers — often easier said than done.
“Give a man a fish and you feed him one meal. Teach him to fish and he can feed himself for many meals.”
This proverb is often how we've seen our social enterprise's mission: to provide and empower people with their own income — from their own passion and creative ability, channeled into their products and small business. (Sometimes these small businesses don't stay small; there's a whole world out there waiting for beautiful products, made with love and care.)
We're excited to be almost constantly on-boarding new micro-businesses and their creators' products. And most of them are a total success on our platform!
May we continue to grow and evolve with our community, creating a network of lovingly made products that can further help those that buy them.
Blessings and kind regards,
The Cosmic Bazaar Social Enterprise Team
The next chapter might be yours.
Made something beautiful, conscious and down-to-earth? The bazaar has always grown by welcoming new makers into the family.