I can’t believe it’s been a whole year of living the small business dream. Kelowna Rocks & Gems has become the biggest and most exciting adventure for us, and I wouldn’t change a thing! July 29th marked a year of the store being open at 1111 Gordon Drive. If you attended our grand opening party, you know we had giveaways, snacks and no air conditioning. We decided to really upgrade this event by adding games, a discount table, and involving our neighbours (Plant Gather and Fools and Sages) to create a block party of sorts. It was great to see so many people attend and enjoy the games, sales, and of course the air conditioning. Despite the store having been expanded back in February, it still managed to feel snug inside with all the extra people! I hope to make it an annual tradition for the business.
We also brought one of the lapidary saws up to the front. Throughout the day, Doug cut plenty of geodes to the delight of many families! We will definitely be adding this to any event we do moving forward. We are always happy to cut any rock outside of these events as well.
Our Little Shop
If you’ve haven’t been to the store in a while, you’ll notice a few differences. Back in February we did a large expansion that involved removing a wall to increase the retail space. To keep our shop space, we partnered with the 1120 Rock Club and leased the unit behind ours. This way, we could continue to have a workspace, but we could also create a workshop for the members of the rock club. For the last few months, members have been able to reserve a spot for lapidary classes! If you’re interested in joining so you can check out the workshop, check out the 1120 Rock Club website and schedule. There is a reduced schedule during the summer, but things will pick up again in the fall. We are thrilled to have this shared space so both Kelowna Rocks & Gems and the 1120 Rock Club can improve and grow!
Our expansion was fueled by our trip to Tucson, Arizona for the the Gem & Mineral show. Our short trip brought back approximately 2000 pounds of rocks, and we had very little shelf space to accommodate that amount. We quickly began to renovate so we could put out our new product. It was great to see so many people excited for the new items!
Over the months we have added new shelving, slat wall, and other improvements to make the experience more positive. We also added new products such as jewelry making supplies, beading supplies, and wire-wrapping supplies. Overall, the shop is looking tip-top!
A lot of the shelving and display items we have are recycled or are built by Doug! These white shelves were a great purchase from a downtown business that no longer needed them, and the steel pipe shelf was completely built by Doug.
The Good and the Bad
As our business has grown, there have been ups and downs. The incredible highs can be credited towards the support of our amazing customers, friends, and family. Unfortunately, its not always positive. Earlier in July, we had an attempted break-in that resulted in a broken glass door. Luckily, our alarm system did its job and the assailants fled the scene without breaching the door. We are grateful the security system worked and they were not able to get inside the building. Truthfully, we hoped the security system would never be needed, but we knew there was always a possibility so it was a necessary expense. We are still left with a large bill, but it will be fixed and we will move along!
It was easy to forget about this unfortunate incident as July was an amazing month! We look forward to the rest of the summer and the other events that will be happening on the north end of Gordon Drive, such as the opening of our neighbour business, Buffalo Rouge Brewing! They will be having a grand opening at the beginning of August. We are also looking forward to our next business trip to Denver, Colorado for the Denver Mineral, Fossil, Gem & Jewelry Show. We will be flying down in September and hopefully bringing back lots of new, cool products.
As always, we are happy to hear any feedback you may have about the store or the new club workshop. We continue to cut rocks for customers, refurbish lapidary equipment, and work on jewelry when we can. Doug and I thank you for your continued support!
