About Gary's Rock Shop
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Gary's Rock Shop was founded in 1992. It is the direct result of having a life time of interest in rocks, minerals, fossils and gem stones. As the owner, I, Gary J. Krause, have 46 years of experience in cutting, polishing and shaping granite and marble monuments. My first venture into rocks and minerals came after a visit to the V-Rock shop in Canton Oh. In a two to three hour visit I left their store the proud owner of seven hundred dollars worth of mineral and rock specimens. I displayed them in a glass display case in my monument company showroom and had success in selling some of the product. I found myself ordering more; I now had the fever. I advertised for used lapidary equipment and old collections. It soon became apparent that I needed more room so I moved the mineral and stone business next door to a vacant building I owned. Gary's Rock Shop is now located at 317 So. Main St. in Viroqua, WI, in a 2000 square foot building which houses the retail store as well as lapidary shop and extra inventory. An additional off site warehouse is used to store and display our used equipment and extra merchandise.
My wife, Dian, and I do some collecting but most of our product comes from national and world wide wholesalers. We also buyout small to large collections which gives us access to some minerals and specimens that are no longer available from mines or other collecting spots or locations. We do some custom cutting and polishing in our shop and also teach lapidary. Our love of the natural beauty of stone and minerals and the scientific mystery of how and where they are formed makes our business more of a hobby than one of profit, but as I say, we love it. When I say we, I am referring to not only myself and my wife Dian but also our three employees, Christine, Stacie and Maggie. Without these four ladies there would be no Gary's Rock shop.
Our mission is to spread interest in the earth sciences and lapidary to as many people as possible and help to make everyone aware of the beauty and complexity of our mutual earth-home and the heavens above us.
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