Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on August 6, 2020. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.

“A most unique kind of rock shop.” That’s how Sacred Star and Stone owner Katrina Gravely describes her Locust Street store. Gravely, who joins the trend of women-owned downtown businesses, says her shop grew out of her interest as an avid rock collector when she couldn’t find reasonably priced items that what she wanted for herself.  “I’ve never met a rock I didn’t like,” the Willis resident said.

Sacred Star and Stone has been in Floyd for three years. It was first located on the Floyd Center for the Arts property, next to the blacksmith shop. Gravely made the decision to relocate in November, when building owners Brian and Alison Lynch, also gemstone collectors, were renovating the space after closing their restaurant, Oddfellows. Gravely has partnered with the Lynchs to feature some of their museum quality specimens from their business, Schwartz Fine Minerals.

The spacious shop is jam-packed with everything from the whimsical to functional to nature’s treasures.  Along with rocks and crystals, it’s well stocked with herbs, resins, candles, essential oils, salts and scrubs and more. Gravely works one-on-one with approximately 30 vendors that she buys from.

Customer service is also done on a one-on-one basis. Gravely said it’s been important to get to know her customers and that she is happy to track down special items, treasures and unique stone specimens for them, whether local or from the other side of the world.  Nothing is mass ordered and everything is hand selected.

“People come from states away to see us,” Gravely said, explaining that she has built her customer base by going to trade shows and expos, selling online and out of her shop. She lights up when she talks about how children react in the hands-on shop with dragons, fairy houses, a life-sized knight in armor and Star Wars and Harry Potter items. “We create magic here every day for children and families.”

One example of the creative fun that goes on in the shop is a 50-year-old dollhouse that Gravely acquired on Facebook Market Place and that she and her employees have been renovating into an Adams Family House, complete with family figurines. “We enjoy making other people smile with what we can create,” she said.

The shop opened on June 19th after state COVID-19 shutdowns were lifted for non-essential businesses and is currently open six days a week from 10 – 6p.m.  She said they go above and beyond COVID safety protocols and that foot traffic has been incrementally increasing, but is still down from pre- pandemic expected numbers.

Gravely described how the shop renovators incorporated original architecture and remnants from past business incarnations into the shop’s design. The 1920 tin ceiling now lines the old fire flu.  Countertops found in the basement have been used in the Jonesburg Pepper Company next door, which was previously the entrance to Oddfellows and housed its kitchen. A menu sign from the long-ago restaurant “Moses” was also found in the basement. It was retrieved and given a sparkly facelift before being added to the shop décor.

A lit-up oak tree body donated by St. Pierre Woodworks and built by Gravely’s husband is a shop centerpiece that brings the outdoors inside and gets lots of attention from shoppers. Strung lights from one end of the ceiling to the other adds another bright touch.  Plans for outside lighting as evenings darken early are in the works. “We enjoy lighting up North Locust Street,” Gravely said with a smile. _____Colleen Redman