MAGAZINES 
Between a rock and a hard place: where Crystal Galleries likes to be
Staff members Carla Gratkowski (left) and Melissa Reed Eckert (right) flank owners Lorraine and Laurens Tartasky.
As a young girl growing up in Queens, N.Y., Lorraine Tartasky would spend hours perched outside on the front stoop, cracking rocks open with a hammer. “I just couldn’t wait to see what was inside,” she recalls.
Years later, she’s still peering inside rocks—not to mention minerals, crystals, fossils and shells. Lorraine and her husband, Laurens, have owned and operated Crystal Galleries on Pearl Street Mall for more than 30 years, and they’re proud of the fact that their store is “not just another rock shop.”
“We’ve tried to be more sophisticated than that,” Lorraine says, “but we can still dig in the dirt with the best of them!”
Crystal Galleries is definitely not just a rock shop. The intimate, beautifully lit space showcases some of Mother Nature’s most exquisite artworks in a gallery-like setting. From dazzling crystals and polished minerals of all sizes and colors, to 300-million-year-old crinoid fossils, petrified wood from as far away as Madagascar, and beautiful jewelry made from natural stones, there’s something for everyone, and for every pocketbook. Though it’s the store’s third location on the mall, “it’s the biggest and best,” says Lorraine, “and we’ve been here for 17 years.”
The Tartaskys are still doing business with their first customer from 30 years ago. “He collects museum-quality pieces for his home,” Laurens says. “We know what he likes, and we call him when we find something perfect for his collection.”
“But we also have low-priced items for young collectors,” Lorraine is quick to add, “and we make sure that even our low-priced items are still high-quality.” In fact, she says, the store’s smaller items and Laurens’s “gift of gab” have prompted many a young rock enthusiast to get started on a lifelong hobby. “Laurens can talk to the kids for hours. Some of the kids he got started on collecting are adults now, and they still come in to talk to Laurens and get his advice, twenty-some years later.”
Besides being the talkative one, Laurens is also “the brains behind the business,” Lorraine believes, while she is more artistic and prefers to concentrate on merchandising the store’s eclectic mix of items. The day-to-day operations are handled by Carla Gratkowski, a 13-year employee Laurens calls “an incredible manager and organizer.” Part-timer Melissa Reed Eckert, who has a helpful geology background, rounds out the small but close-knit staff.
Perhaps Carla is so incredible at her job because she truly loves it. “It’s amazing what’s created in this earth. You have no idea, and I didn’t either until I started working here,” she says. “I love when Laurens shares his knowledge with a child and you can see the child’s eyes light up. We’re surrounded by such good energy here.”
’The good stuff’
When the Tartaskys first opened their store in 1980, a lot of their time was spent traveling to trade shows, seeking out the ideal mix of rocks, minerals, crystals and fossils for their customers. “When it comes to buying from the big dealers,” says Lorraine, “it’s definitely who you know, so it was difficult at first.”
These days, though, they only go to a show or two a year. Laurens says that’s “because after years of great clients and amazing connections, now the best dealers call us.”
“And that’s because they know we’ll buy only the good stuff,” Lorraine adds.
Crystal Galleries certainly has all the “good stuff” that Lorraine and Laurens boast of. Some of the sparkling items on display are purely decorative, though many have a welcome functional element too, like a smooth onyx lamp, a pair of glittering geode bookends, an incredible fossil tabletop. But they all have one thing in common: They’re fascinating. “My favorite thing to do is look at small items under the microscope,” Carla says, “especially newly discovered specimens that come in, like our recent shipment of cornetite from South Africa.”
Carla also appreciates how Laurens and Lorraine take great care to handpick everything with a commendable goal of keeping “overworked” items out of the store, and she knows that the customers appreciate that, too. “You know, those items where they’ve taken the natural part away and you can’t even tell it’s a mineral anymore.”
One exception to the rule is the store’s display of antique glassware by the French glass designer René Lalique (1860-1945), which includes vases, perfume bottles and decanters. The pieces are allowed in the store “because Lalique took his designs straight from nature,” explains Laurens, who says he first got “stung” by Lalique glass in Florida back in 1978. “And now,” Lorraine says proudly, “Laurens is one of the world’s foremost authorities on antique Lalique glass.”
Lorraine credits the success of Crystal Galleries to the fact that rocks and minerals have such broad appeal. “Who is not intrigued with the history of the earth?”
Laurens agrees. “We’re an anomaly on the mall; lots of stores don’t make it this long, and it’s because people love what we have.”
As for Carla, she’s just happy to be there every day, interacting with customers and sharing her expertise. “It’s fun because we never know what each new day will bring,” she says. “We have people who come in often just to sing to the crystals, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Crystal Galleries, at 1302 Pearl St., is open Mon-Sat 11am-5pm and Sun noon-4pm. 303-444-2277; www.crystalgalleries.com.
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