A Rock Shop in my Yard

by Jane H.
(Laporte, MN USA)

When customers call and ask what my hours are, I always say, “If I am here I am open, because I live here”. I don’t exactly live in my rock shop. It is located a hundred feet or so from my front door. The business has been here quite a while and has been grandfathered in, according to the township zoning regulations. But it was in a decline until a few years ago, when I set up a website. Before that, I had tried to keep it alive by going to craft shows and buying some largely ineffective road signs.

My website gave the business a new lease on life. I get mail order inquiries, and people stopping in, telling me that they saw me on the internet. I’ve made new friends, both online and in person, and have joined social networking groups for the purpose of discussing rocks, minerals, crystals, lapidary, geology, and the general industry.

New people moving to the area tell me that they love rocks and the buzz about my shop is spreading by word of mouth. The business has been in the family for three generations, and in previous decades my parents and grandparents had to put up with neighbors calling it a hobby and taking no interest in it whatsoever. In reality it was always a seasonal tourist business but was not afforded the dignity of being regarded as such.

I still have to call it part time employment, but the situation is improving. I have branched into related arts and crafts and I write web articles on subjects of geological and mineralogical interest, which I sell to websites and print publications.