ROCK SHOP OF DISTINCTION: NEVADA MINERAL & BOOK COMPANY (Part II)
Delivering the Details
In the November 2020 issue of Rock & Gem, we spent time delving into the world of Nevada Mineral & Book Company (NMBC), located in Orange, California. Now, in Part II of this two-part series, we’ll get to know a bit more about the owner and founder of NMBC, Walt Lombardo.
A business owner since 1985, Lombardo is a certified geologist whose personal and professional life is interwoven in many ways and has been for years, not unlike many in the rockhounding community.
All told, Walt has logged more than 30 years of direct experience related to mining and mineral exploration, including 16 years in management of the Las Vegas Office for the Nevada Division of Minerals. In other words, the guy knows his stuff! A professional geologist who has been-there/done-that, Walt uses his vast professional and technical knowledge in providing an unmatched level of customer service. That commitment to quality service and customer care is a driving force behind what Walt does day-in and day-out.
NEVADA MINERAL & BOOK COMPANY
342 S. Tustin Street Orange, CA 92866 Website: www.minbooks.net Email: minbooks@aol.com Telephone: 714-633-1549
In June 2020, I revisited Walt in his shop, which he had been forced to shutter during the height of the “lockdown” and “stay-well-at-home” period. He had to shut down in-person retail operations for ten weeks. During that time, he turned to existing customers tuned into his online newsletter with special deals on gift cards to generate at least some cash to pay ongoing bills. Walt was ineligible to apply for grants, loans, or other financial help identified by the government as “relief ” bills with no employees. Still, he managed to get by and, in fact, kept himself busier than ever upgrading his website and getting involved in two big estate/commission sales, including a collection from a former bank vice president.
SERVING OTHERS IS TIME WELL SPENT
He also spent some of the “lockdown” time sorting through the collections and reorganizing his shop. He had been devoting special attention to organizing his inventory on mining history, given that one recent collection that came his way included 300 artifacts and historical stock certificates. These efforts have had a positive impact now that Walt is once again serving customers in person
while taking special care to insist customers were masks and practice social distancing. Plus, he’s installed hand sanitizer at spots throughout the shop given his pre-existing kidney transplant condition, which makes him especially vulnerable should he contract COVID-19. Still, Walt keeps forging on, keeps welcoming customers, and maintains a happy and smiling face.
Another area of service where Walt excels is sharing information and supporting those who share knowledge. Are you a teacher? Or are you a parent with a budding young geologist or paleontologist in your home? Then shopping among the educational materials and kits offered at NMBC is worth your time. For instance, you’ll find mineral and Moh’s hardness collections, kits of the different rock types (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic), fossil kits, and fluorescent mineral collections. Some specimens are attractively presented in oak-framed cases. Plus, mineral collections and teaching kits are supplemented by posters and books geared to the young novice collector. And within the shop, you are sure to find reasonably priced minerals and fossils for kids of all ages.
Another example of his love of sharing information with others is evident in the many talks and programs he presents at gatherings of local gem and mineral societies in the greater Los Angeles region. Within the past year, my own Ventura Gem & Mineral Society was privy to Walt’s presentations not once but twice: first on minerals used throughout history to color glass and then on California’s gemstones. In years past, he also gave a presentation on meteorites and tektites. He remains high on our society’s list of preferred program providers for our monthly meetings. During COVD-19, Walt’s continued with presentations, being a featured speaker during virtual monthly meetings of clubs, including the South Orange County Gem & Mineral Society.
Usually, Walt also uses his popular e-newsletter to inform recipients of opportunities to sign up for field trips to the Oceanview Mine in the Pala region of San Diego County, California. Field trip participants can dig and screen through mine dumps for tourmaline, kunzite, aquamarine, quartz, and other precious and semi-precious gemstones and minerals in one of the world’s most famed gemstone districts. I asked Walt about his reason for promoting the Oceanview Mine and whether he has any relationship or financial connection. The answer was no; he provides this as customer service. He first visited the Pala gemstone district in the early 1980s and got to know the many mine owners. When he opened a shop, many families with kids and grandkids visited his shop, many of whom had never been in the great outdoors to engage in the fun of personal field collecting. He decided to leverage his knowledge of and personal relationships with Pala district mine owners to suggest a great family activity.
Walt has promoted various mines in the district, and Oceanview is the one that has kept up an active relationship and has offered especially frequent field trip opportunities. It provides regular fee digs throughout the year, whereby visitors pay a set fee to spend a day sifting through mine tailings and keeping whatever they find. Speaking from several personal experiences, I can assure that every visitor is guaranteed some nice finds.
Finally, I cannot legitimately end without saying enough good things about what a fine person Walt is and what a real pleasure it always is to see him. During my visit earlier this year, he devoted a fair amount of time interacting with a young adolescent named Marty. The young man said he was bitten by the rock bug some six months ago—although his mother noted the bug had been present long before. With the limited income of an adolescent, Marty had brought in specimens from his collection to swap for
upgrades, hopefully. Walt gave him full attention plus primo pieces, noting later that even if the shop took a bit of a loss on that particular transaction, the field of geology might make a gain with the passion and knowledge this young man was already showing.
Having established and continually refined what Walt refers to as his “own source of passion,” he hopes his shop might, in some way, assist people in “finding the center of their universe.” Even while facing a life-threatening illness these past few years, Walt continues to put on a smiling face, travel to shows, provide programs at local club meetings, learn and grow every day, and offer the largest selection of rock-related books under the sun.
Indeed, Walt is the sort of human put on Earth to serve as an example and inspiration for what we all should strive towards in attitude, helpfulness, and friendliness. Then again, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, doesn’t it take the best sort of person to pull together the best rock shop on the planet?
For more information about Nevada Mineral & Book Company, visit www.geologicalpublications.com.