The two-week-long Denver Gem & Mineral Showcase successfully concluded on September 16, amid half the shows changing locations this year. Then, two weeks later, it was time to shop for more incredible wholesale gem and mineral deals in Tucson!
That’s right, two weeks after the Denver Showcase concluded wholesale buyers headed to Tucson to shop some more! Gem and mineral buyers have been going to the annual Denver Gem & Mineral Showcase in September for over fifty years. Ten gem, mineral, and jewelry shows in Denver provide an autumn cornucopia of around 800 wholesale dealers from which buyers stock up for their holiday-sales inventory. Also, for many years, Tucson has hosted a smaller autumn gem and jewe
These forty Tucson business owners — specifically, rock, gem, mineral and fossil dealers who store and sell their inventory from warehouses in Tucson — banded together and organized the event. Each business is open at the same time, on the same days, and they invite the gem and mineral world to Tucson to come see and buy. Most of the businesses sell wholesale only.
One of the biz owners, Bruce Barlow, owner of Barlow’s Gems at The Rock Yard, is the primary organizer and promoter of the new Tucson “show,” which we at Xpo Press refer to more accurately as a showcase*. Back in August, I chatted with Barlow after I learned about this new, unique showcase set up in Tucson in October. I really wanted to help promote this event. It just makes sense. No city in the world has as many businesses that specialize in the warehousing and selling of rocks, gems, crystals, fossils, and minerals.
In the last five to ten years, there has been a significant migration of rock and mineral companies from all over the world that have purchased real estate in Tucson, relocated their inventory in the city’s warehouses, and taken up residence there. Why? Because all these companies for years, many of them for decades, have been making the trek to Tucson each January and February to sell their wares at the annual Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase. Tucson show sales accounted for a large percentage of these companies’ annual income. Even though their profits were always good during Tucson show time, expenses for travel, shipping, food, and lodging, year-long storage of inventory, and fees to the show promoters for booth, tent, or room space were enormous. To relocate to Tucson has simply helped increase these dealers’ bottom line. Many of these companies can now simply sell their inventory from their warehouses during the annual Tucson Showcase in January and February, continue to do business from Tucson year-round, and not have to fork out tens of thousands of dollars to do someone else’s show.
Which brings me back to my conversation with Barlow. He explained that not only are expenses enormous to sell at a Tucson show each year, but it’s also tremendously expensive to sell at the Denver Showcase in September. Barlow, for one, has decided not to travel to Denver any longer to sell his products. Several others who now own warehouses in Tucson, like Nader Kawar, owner of Enter the Earth, have made the same decision. The show at which Kawar sold for over twenty years in Denver, the JG&M Expo, shut down this year. He purchased a warehouse in Tucson in 2020 and decided not to come back to Denver this year but instead to co-op with Barlow and (now) over three dozen other Tucson rock warehouses and launch something new in their own backyards this fall.
The thought is strength in numbers — bring the buyers to the Tucson warehouses instead of spending a fortune selling in Denver in the fall. Get enough rock, gem, mineral, and crystal companies together who already own warehouses, do business, and live in Tucson year-round ... and “do our own thing.” To be accurate, nearly half of the Tucson dealers who will be opening their warehouses for the new October Tucson Showcase still also sell at the Denver Showcase in September. But since they own warehouses in Tucson, it makes sense to profit by doing both.
Many eyes were on this October Tucson wholesale showcase to see whether or not it would succeed. Would the buyers come? With the mass changes taking place with many of the top shows in Denver coupled with a very strong group of wholesale rock and mineral dealers who make a living in Tucson year-round, could there be a shift in where wholesale buyers go in the fall to purchase their end-of-year rock, gem, mineral, crystal, and fossil inventory? September in Denver? October in Tucson? Both?
The feedback has been mostly positive about the October Tucson event. Buyers did come, and many of the businesses that were open for the even said their sales were satisfactory. Others, not so much. But it was just the first year. Stay tuned to Xpo Press next year. We will promote the event again, and our hope — as it is also the hope with the Dealers Tucson Fall Gem & Mineral Show — that the event gains popularity and that it grows and succeeds each year for many years to come.
Quick links
• Click here for more information about the Dealers Tucson Fall Gem & Mineral Show — contact information and a list of Tucson businesses selling at the citywide showcase.
• Click here for company profile pages with more information about each business selling at the showcase.
• Click here for an interactive Tucson map with directions to each warehouse show. Created by Christopher Matthews of Enter the Earth.
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* Xpo Press’s differentiation between a Show and Showcase: A Show is a solo event held at one venue that is promoted by one group. A Showcase is a citywide event where multiple shows, organized by different groups, are occurring simultaneously. This is strictly an American gem show phenomenon. The Showcases in the U.S. are in Tucson (Jan.-Feb., Aug.-Sept., and now, October), Denver (September), Las Vegas (June), Quartzsite, Ariz. (Jan.-Feb.), and Franklin, N.C. (May and July).