Upon recent entry to Ramsey’s Rocks and Minerals, customers were greeted with a sign over a bowl of handmade gift bags: “Take one — thank you for your friendship and support.”
The mesh bags were filled with dried lavendar — thought to be a de-stressor that helps people feel relaxed and calm. Nestled between the dried lavender morsels was a healing stone, along with a sticker with the words, “Letting go is hard, but being free is beautiful.”
Long-term Ramsey’s customers will have to let go when the shop officially closes its doors before the new year.
At 70 years old, Ramsey’s is one of the oldest continually running businesses in Sedona. In 1949, William Randolph Fleck opened a small rock shop where Sinagua Plaza is now in Uptown, and called it Randolph’s Rock Shop.
Twenty years later, in August 1969, gem collector John Ramsey — who was then the owner and operator of the Sedona Frame Shop — purchased Randolph’s and renamed it Ramsey’s Rocks and Minerals. Ramsey continued to operate his frame shop but also morphed Ramsey’s Rocks and Minerals into more of what it looks like today, offering museum specimens, collectors’ items, gemstone jewelry and books, as well as its array of rocks and minerals.
Around 1995, local jeweler Jeff Goebel purchased Ramsey’s and moved it to its current home on State Route 179, now next to the Goldenstein Gallery and Baskin-Robbins.
In 2013, Susan and Bob Obijiski purchased Ramsey’s from Goebel. The Obijiskis had been in the rock business for years in New York before moving to Sedona. Bob made jewelry and Susan had a background with selling rocks on a smaller scale and training in their metaphysical elements, so the takeover seemed like a perfect choice for them.
“We have a little bit more metaphysical bent as Sedona has evolved in that respect,” Susan said. “It’s kind of a balance between those people who like to collect rocks and those people who are coming to Sedona or living in Sedona because of the spirituality aspect of them.”
Since the Obijiskis took over, customers could find fossils, candles, petrified wood and even Reiki-charged healing pouches along with drilled stone and other energy-based crystals. A low humming would often come from the back room while Bob made and repaired jewelry.
“Locals will bring repairs here because we’re one of the last places that does jewelry repairs, so that’s going to be challenging for people in Sedona,” Susan said. “I think because [Ramsey’s] is such an old business and the tradition has been here in Sedona for so long, [it wasn’t] an easy decision to make. It’s something that we really had to think long and hard about. But at the end of the day, you’re in the business to try and make a living.”
Susan admitted that despite years of loyal local customers and some regular out-of-town ones, sales were still declining.
“You have all the stores Uptown now, you’ve got online competition. But also the buying profile of the people who come to Sedona as visitors [has changed],” she said. “Twenty or 30 years ago Sedona was a really well-kept secret, so most of the people that came here to visit … they had a lot of disposable income. And what we have now is a lot more people coming from all over the world to visit Sedona — but their buying behavior is very different. So they may or may not buy anything from local stores, they may just be here to hike or bike, they might be here because they’re coming to the film festival or whatever, but they’re not buying at the same level.”
Susan added that while on spring break you “can’t get out on the roads along here,” it’s mostly families with young kids or recreationists — not people looking to spend money on jewelry or rocks.
Speaking of roads, traffic — or the lack thereof — is another reason that Susan attributes to Ramsey’s declining sales.
“We miss a lot of people that are coming. They took the traffic light out, put in the circle, that keeps traffic moving and they don’t have time to look and see what’s [here],” she said. “And they’re talking about putting a median down … so if they do that you can’t make a left turn into this property from the other side of the street without going all the way down to the circle and coming back — and during tourist season nobody’s going to do that.”
With the lease expiring Tuesday, Dec. 31, Susan and John decided not to renew due to declining sales and uncertainty of the future of the area. The two won’t be retiring, but will instead do energy workshops, concierge shopping and consulting from home or other residences.
The two are trying to get rid of as much inventory as they can before the new year, with 20% to 45% off all purchases over $50.
Susan toyed with selling inventory online, but knows competition with larger websites would be tough.
“The Chinese have really jumped into the market and they have online sites where you can buy rocks and things from other countries, and they’re going to be a lot less expensive,” she said.
Still, she said there’s something not quite the same as seeing a photo of a rock online and choosing to buy it versus in person.
“From a metaphysical standpoint, the people that come in here to shop that want to actually pick up the rock and feel it energetically — maybe there’s 20 pieces of clear quartz on the table and one of them is going to be the one that you really resonate with,” she said.
Ramsey’s isn’t the only long-running shop that is closing its doors. Bryant Nagel Galleries’ Turquoise Tortoise and Lanning galleries, which were founded by Peggy Lanning in 1971 and 1986, respectively, recently closed after Lanning sold them both in summer 2017. Native Spirit has a sign outside its Uptown residence saying it will be closing its doors after 30 years and all the American Indian jewelry, pots and décor “must go.” Their lease will expire Tuesday, June 30.
“I think if nothing else, it’s a sign of the times,” Susan said. “You can choose to fight and dig your heels in and make some bad decisions in terms of hanging in there … or you can just say ‘this is the way it’s going and I don’t see it changing any time soon.’”
