Honey Creek Gems — Local services in Davenport

My husband, son, and I just left the Honey Creek rock shop and we are incredibly upset about our visit to this establishment. We picked this place to come to as part of my birthday that we are celebrating this weekend. We drove over 2 HOURS to visit this shop and it was supposed to be one of the main focal points of our trip and why we decided to rent a cabin in this area. We are huge rock enthusiasts and recently moved to Iowa and noticed a lack of good rock shops near where we live, so when we saw this Honey Creek rock shop online we were excited to go because it looked like more of what we are interested in. So we arrive and the shop does have a great selection and we start looking around, and the man working there (I assume the owner) hands us baskets to put our selections in as we shop around. My son, who isn’t much into rocks, finds a seat up near the register and plays around on his phone while he waits for us. We picked a few things and then found the buckets of rough rock toward the back of the store and we were like YEAH! Soooo excited because we love rough rock and it was exactly what we were hoping to find. We dig into the buckets and find a bunch of rocks to purchase. But soon my son comes over to us and says that the owner told him to tell us to hurry up. We’re were like, “Um, what!?”. So my husband asks the owner if he was closing soon, and the owner responds “No, I just don’t like cherry pickers”. So we stood up and decided that our time was up I guess. There were many more buckets we both wanted to look through but we were being forced out. We head to the register and pay for our rocks (which totaled almost $100 and that’s still not as much as we would have spent if we were able to keep looking at other items). We told the guy on the way out that we would have bought more if we could, and that we wouldn’t be coming back, and he just responded “That’s okay.” This was ridiculous in our opinion. Why stop paying customers from looking at your stock? I guess he doesn’t care about making money. Also there were no signs saying “No cherry-picking” and we have NEVER had anyone in any other rock shop tell us that. He also didn’t even have the guts to come us tell us himself- he whispered it to our teenage son to tell us. Seriously? This guy needs some lessons in successful business practices, because if that’s how you treat interested, paying customers, then you won’t have much repeat business. If you don’t want your items being looked through and bought- then keep them in the back room somewhere where they can’t be seen and purchased. Because obviously we did something wrong by looking through those buckets! Unbelievable and rude. Thanks for an ugly smear on my birthday weekend enjoyment, Scrooge...

I bought a geode, and a thunder egg, at another shop, and they recommended Jimmy's Honey Creek Gems as the the place to get them opened and sawn. The first thing I noticed was all of the beautiful plants around the shop, as a horticulturalist of course I love plants. The store is very open in the front everything is in nice white boxes with prices clearly marked. Jimmy knows exactly where each and every piece is. He knows the crystalogy aspect of it as well as the geological aspect. He's not going pass off his India "Nuummite" as real Greenland Nuummite-and despite what some sellers would have you believe they are not the same thing. You can expect to pay low double digits for even a small piece of real Nuummite. If you're paying single digits you're buying Coppernite. Honey Creek Gems has become my new go to brick and mortar store for my crystal desires. As an entry level collector, you have to rely on the integrity of the shop owner, and their employees. Jimmy is shop owner, employee, custodian, gemologist, geologist, and docent all rolled into one package. He's also the only shop that cuts a polishes raw stones. I don't know if he does spheres. You're not going to find readings, sage, stuff like that just straight forward rocks, crystals, gem cut stones($$$$-but worth every dollar)cutting equipment-which he will teach you how to use, and an honest deal. He offers a 10%...

I recently went to this shop for the first time and the owner or employee was rude and unprofessional. He got upset because I picked out rough rocks that I liked from the buckets instead of a random scoop. I just got a 15lb tumbler and wanted to buy some nice rough agates to put in it. There’s no sign that I saw about not picking out what you want and he made no attempt at conversation to tell me otherwise. On my way out he made it clear he didn’t want me back. Worst experience I have had at a rock shop. People are getting worse today. Just pathetic customer service...