Taos Rockers is Open!
“It’s Wednesday and you know what that means. Taos Rockers is open.” That was the slogan used on KTAO to advertise in the earliest days of the Taos Rockers, Mineral and Fossil Outlet retail shop.
During its first year, Taos Rockers was operated solely by owners Anne Brenner and Cortney Stewart, and opened Wednesdays, or by appointment or coincidence. Now, 13 years later, Taos Rockers is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. – closing only for Christmas Day and the Taos Fiestas weekend.
It employs six part-time sales associates, a website manager and a newsletter/social media manager. Including co-owner Cortney Stewart, there are four geologists on staff. The success of Taos Rockers is built upon a realistic mission coupled with a viable philosophy for buying and selling.
“Our mission is to provide educational opportunities for the public to learn about the earth sciences including the identification of rocks, minerals and fossils; how and where they form and a basic understanding of earth processes. Taos Rockers strives to provide the best quality material at affordable prices with something for everyone,” Stewart says.
The retail shop, located at 229A Camino de la Placita, originally carried only minerals and fossils. Current inventory includes mineral and fossil specimens, books and posters, jewelry, stoneware and stone furnishings, decorative items, cabochons and faceted stones, gold pans and loupes, metaphysical crystals, polished stones and more … something for everyone.
“Our buying philosophy is to support family-operated businesses and regional prospectors and mineral dealers,” Stewart explains. “Taos Rockers has a number of contacts with family businesses throughout the world. We have numerous stories of how we and our vendors evolved from low-volume inventory and purchases to what we are today. Some vendors started in shared booths, small motel rooms or out of the trunk of their vehicles and now they fill ballrooms, have warehouses and factories. We attempt to purchase items by asking, ‘Would we want this item in our collection?’
“Our selling philosophy is very simple – best available for the lowest price and the customer comes first. The customer is not always right, but the customer always comes first. We offer a 10 percent discount to all local customers,” Brenner continues.
“Taos Rockers is designed according to our vision of what a ‘rock shop’ should be. The shop offers common to rare minerals and fossils in a variety of sizes and quality – from a representative example to a museum showpiece. One of our pet-peeves at other shops is the lack of identification and visible pricing – one should not have to ask what something is or what it costs. Each item in our shop has a label identifying what the item is, where it comes from and its price.
Since November 2019, the option of online shopping has been available at taosrockers.com. This option was especially helpful during the 83-day shutdown in 2020 due to COVID. A variety of items, along with special sales, are only offered online. Educational resources are available throughout the website. Specials and information about products are also available through a weekly newsletter. Anyone can sign up for this weekly treat at taosrockers.com.
The success story of Taos Rockers continues to be written say Taos Rockers Anne and Cortney. “We will continue to treat customers like friends and family and look forward to serving the community for years to come.