For over half a century, Glenwood Springs’ High Country Gems and Minerals, affectionately known as “The Rock Shop,” has drawn customers across its threshold with fantastical glittery gifts, hand-selected crystals, metaphysical goods and a radiating energy of welcoming joy and generosity.

Now, the iconic store is entering a new era — moving to “the other side of the wall,” as store co-owner Tammy Girardot put it.

On June 2, the shop closed its doors at 311 Eighth St. for the final time after 54 years in the same location. On Sunday, High Country Gems and Minerals will reopen at 309 Eighth St., Glenwood Springs, right next to the storefront it inhabited for decades. 

For the past year, the store has been surrounded by the hustle and bustle of construction as workers replaced floor and ceiling joists, removed asbestos and revamped the crumbling bones of the 1880s building. It’s now time for the rock shop’s previous storefront to undergo a renovation of its own. 

Tammy and co-owner Louis Girardot, who purchased the store from the previous owner, Patti “Rock Star” Neuroth, in 2023, have been preparing for the move for over a year. They meticulously designed the new space, puzzling out the placement of shelves and display cases while finding ways to preserve the essence of its former location. 

They paid homage to the original store, copying the font of the fading window sign and preserving pieces of the gemstone decoupage created by Neuroth. They even found ways to intertwine pieces of their story into the store’s new design — a table from Tammy and Louis’ previous business venture, the Avalon Cafe, is nestled in the store’s new library. 

The shop’s new showpiece is a fairy tree. Created by Tom McCraith, the old pinyon pine is fitted to the store’s front wall and affixed with shelves. The tree lights up and is covered in moss, adding a sprinkle of magic to the store’s display of delicate fairy figurines.

Even the store’s color palette was selected with a careful intentionality. If customers hold up a clear quartz, the shop’s colorful accents — a yellow wall, deep purple baseboards, muted blue doors — shine through. 

The love Tammy and Louis have for the business is evident in the details. For them, it’s more than just a shop — it’s a place that builds community and acts as a conduit for generosity, joy and love. 

“The rock shop, being 54 years old and the history behind it — I’m the fourth owner of it — and we all know the stories about everybody and what they did and where they started from.

“I truly believe that the shop is an entity unto itself,” she added. “I’m its steward to keep it going and keep it moving.”

Over the past couple years, their favorite part of running the rock shop has been interactions with the community that has supported the business for decades. 

“Those that come in and locals, those that have been coming in, for generations,” Tammy said. “You can get three generations of a family in there, sometimes four if you’re really lucky.”

Some come to the rock shop in tears, searching for something to help ease their pain, while others stop by to browse for gifts for anniversaries, birthdays and holidays.

“As I tell my employees often, our job is to connect with the guests and brighten their day,” Tammy said. “We’re not there to sell them rocks, they sell themselves. We’re there to give good service.”

Sometimes, rock shop employees will give a rose quartz heart — which is said to have a cleansing energy that helps heal old wounds and heartbreak — to a visitor who looks like they may need a little extra support.

“We hand (rose quartz hearts) out at the shop a lot,” Tammy said. “If somebody comes in, in that type of situation, they leave with a rose quartz heart. It’s just part of what that shop is. These are not all my traditions either, these are things that have been passed down.”

Sometimes, they’ll send baskets of rose quartz hearts to friends suffering from a recent loss or illness. When one of Tammy’s close family friends passed away, they even created a gemstone and rock altar for the memorial service. 

“There seems to be this chronic generosity in the people that own this shop,” Louis said. “Patti, back when Tammy was the manager here and I would come in and work on computer stuff, she would always insist on overpaying me. If she saw me look at a particular rock she’d pull it off the shelf and put it in my pocket.”

Over the past week, the same community Tammy and Louis adore has shown up for the beloved store, bringing food and offering help and good wishes.  

The couple is excited to reopen the store at 10 a.m. on Sunday and continue its longstanding tradition of welcoming visitors with loving, open arms for many decades to come. 

“We welcome anybody and everybody in,” Tammy said. “There’s no judgment ever, and the goal is to treat them all as well as we can to (help them) leave better than when they showed up. That’s part of the goal of the whole place.”