blarneystone
spending too much on rocks
Rocks in my head
Member since March 2010
Posts: 307
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Post by blarneystone on Feb 19, 2011 12:27:08 GMT -5
Boerne Rock Shop & Studio A few weeks ago I was visiting family in San Antonio. While there, I got the chance to go to a neat little rock shop in Boerne, TX. Whenever I come across a rock shop I haven't visited before, I like to promote them on the lapidary forums. This shop specializes in fluorescent materials but they have a small yard with five gallon buckets full of interesting lapidary stone as well. Bess, the owner let me dig through boxes and boxes of smaller, more exotic rough that they have stored outside in another enclosure outside the shop. There were several boxes of Malachite & Azurite. So I got a few of those.   I asked Bess if she had any Fire Agate and she produced several boxes of small rough, some of the pieces were “windowed” and others left untouched. I picked out some nice ones I think...        Anyway, if you find yourself in San Antonio you should visit this place. Boerne Rock Shop & Studio 37110 I-10 West at John's Rd. Boerne, Tx. Dan |
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Post by tkrueger3 on Feb 19, 2011 23:54:03 GMT -5
Glad to see a report on the Boerne shop. Looks like some sweet material. How is she on prices? Last I heard, she was pretty much "by appointment only". Is she open more "normal" hours these days?
Tom
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Post by roy on Feb 20, 2011 2:58:37 GMT -5
you did good on the fire agates
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blarneystone
spending too much on rocks
Rocks in my head
Member since March 2010
Posts: 307
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Post by blarneystone on Feb 20, 2011 8:32:59 GMT -5
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 20, 2011 8:58:49 GMT -5
Neat specimens! I've tried to hit that shop before and never found the dang place open. One of my pet peeves is a shop that folks don't run in a professional manner with regular posted hours. I like to stop by and check out shops when I'm in the area and it's annoying when they're closed during a regular workday and don't have regular hours of business....Mel
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blarneystone
spending too much on rocks
Rocks in my head
Member since March 2010
Posts: 307
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Post by blarneystone on Feb 20, 2011 10:49:17 GMT -5
Hmmm... I'm wondering if this is the same place Mel, I know that there was an older rock shop in Boerne but it's closed now. My uncle and I drove around looking for that place, asked for directions and were told that it had closed. The same person pointed us to the place right off of I-10.
The shop has a couple of big limestone Texas carvings in the front yard, one stood about 6'. There is a good sized boulder of what looks like calcite as well. It's located right next to an Antique consignment shop.
I want to make sure we're talking about the same place. I would hate for them to get a bad rep due to mistaken identity....
thanks,
Dan
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rockhound97058
freely admits to licking rocks
Thundereggs - Oregons Official State Rock!
Member since January 2006
Posts: 760
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Post by rockhound97058 on Feb 20, 2011 17:53:59 GMT -5
Neat stones! I love fire agate - Been wanting to find the thundereggs from mexico that have fire agate cores.
Mel - I have my shop open appointment basis as well. I do this for three reasons. First is I have to many other jobs which pay a heck of alot more lol. Second I could do the shop full time and make money, but for personal reasons I don't want to. The last thing I want to do with the rocks is do it 6 days a week 8-10 hour days. As is it, I get burned out cutting rock for custom orders. So I love going to work, coming home and bi*ching about my day at work and go out and cut a rock for fun ;D - and by appointment if I decide to go dig rock at 6am when I wake up, I jump in the truck and roll. No worries about the shop -
Third, I have a tiny shop I sell my goods - located off the house. I would imagine if I stuck a retail front downtown things would be much different with the vast overhead.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Feb 20, 2011 21:59:26 GMT -5
Dan, Yeah it's the same shop. I saw their ad in my gem club newsletter ( Fredericksburg Club) and made a special side trip over there. It's their shop so they can run it like they want but I don't think their post in the club bulletin said by appointment only and I hate wasting my time.
Rockhound: I hear what you're saying but rockhounds like to hit shops when traveling and it seems lately, I'm just encountering strings of these no show shops while in the olden times , you could hop from shop to shop along any major route you chose to follow.....Mel
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Post by texaswoodie on Feb 21, 2011 11:17:09 GMT -5
The olden times are gone Mel. This is the new and improved age.  Curt |
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Post by johnjsgems on Feb 22, 2011 8:59:41 GMT -5
For those old enough to remember Catch 22, if they have regular hours they may not have regular customer flow to support the business. If they don't have regular hours they probably won't have enough customers. I don't remember his name but the owner made two trips to Tucson and seemed like a nice guy.
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blarneystone
spending too much on rocks
Rocks in my head
Member since March 2010
Posts: 307
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Post by blarneystone on Feb 22, 2011 13:19:15 GMT -5
Thank you John, I have to agree with you. The 2 days I visited the shop, we were probably the only customers she had all weekend and we only bought $20 worth of rocks. That kind of business hardly makes it worth turning on the lights for.
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Haleysdream
has rocks in the head
K-9 unit Rock Hounds
Member since January 2010
Posts: 654
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Post by Haleysdream on Feb 23, 2011 8:49:19 GMT -5
Very nice find, hope she can stay in business. These are tough times for anyone trying to sell anything other than essentials.
Nancy
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Post by johnjsgems on Mar 24, 2011 20:40:47 GMT -5
Had the pleasure of spending the afternoon at the Boerne Rock Shop. Very nice shop and nice folks too. We mostly talked business so I won't get beaten when my wife gets back from Florida ("NO MORE ROCKS!"). By the way, they are open Thursday through Sunday only.
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Gotta lick those rocks to see if they shine!!
