Golden Valley Entrepreneurs Open Rock Candy Store, Combining ‘Best of Two Worlds’

At Rock Candy, a new store in Excelsior, terrestrial wonders from agates to amethyst show off nature’s beauty.

The tables and display cases are covered with a veritable rainbow of polished rocks and gems. Their prices range from $1 to $3,000, and they’ve come from all over the world.

Owners Christa and Jay Kalk celebrated the store’s grand opening this weekend. 

These Golden Valley residents are the former owners of Minnesota Makers, an arts and crafts store with locations in Robbinsdale and Excelsior. They closed the stores last year.

“We were working on consignment and so the margins just became too tight, I couldn’t make it work any more,” Christa Kalk said. “And we’ve been talking about doing something like this for many years.”

The store is also a place to show off the Kalk family’s handmade jewelry.

The pair has collaborated on rings, while Jay focuses on necklaces with agate pendants.

“These are all Lake Superior agates and these are agates that I find or buy from dealers, and I cut, carve and polish them to the finished product which you see here, which is the state stone shaped like Minnesota,” Jay Kalk said.

The concept for the store — as the name may indicate — includes a sweet element.

“Whenever we go to a tourist town, we always see a rock shop and a candy shop” Christa said. “And we thought, well how could we combine this?”

The candy section includes traditional rock candy, primarily made with colored sugar attached to sticks.

For those with more exotic tastes, there’s bagged candy made in the shape of a stone you might find on a beach or buried in a garden.

“Those are a lot of fun,” Christa said.

The store also offers craft classes. More details are available here.

A stone display at Rock Candy in Excelsior.

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