Tucson, AZ Gem and Mineral Show 2025

The trip there wasn’t all that long and with the updated Las Vegas airport it made the trip that much easier for me. I left around 6am on February 1^st from Reno, NV and landed in Tucson, AZ around noon. As always, I got a few nice pictures while in the air. First is from leaving Reno and 2nd was from on my way into Las Vegas to land for the connecting flight.

I had planned out the shows/venues I wanted to see while I was there. With my friend’s help we planned out the days in a more organized manner, so we weren’t going from one end of town to another for different shows. I feel like we succeeded in going to shows nearby each other. I had goals in mind to carry out, which as always never goes as planned. I wanted to connect with miners and look at establishing a partnership with some to buy in the future, which the ones I did connect with only sold at that show and in one case Mexico.

Let’s talk about the shows we went to and did we enjoy it or not. I really enjoyed Smokey’s Tucson Miners Co-op located at Mike Jacob Sports Park, 6901 N. Casa Grande Highway, Tucson, Arizona 85653 that we went to on February 2^nd. This show was the furthest away from my friend’s house. I found that one to be the most relaxing and majority of the vendors were nice and hospitable. There’s always a few that we felt like didn’t want to talk to others for their own reasons, could have been an off day for them.

We went to the Whole Bead Show at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Tucson Airport 7051 South Tucson Blvd on the same day. This is where I wanted to go to find beads for a specific project I’m working on for myself and my younger sister. I’m converting earrings of our Mom’s into a necklace for each of us. I’ll talk more about that in a future post. And in fact, I did find the beads I was looking for!

In 2023 when I went to the Gem show, we went to the Kino Show and had a blast. So, this year we went again, this time I had more knowledge of where I wanted to take my business and how I wanted to see it grow. Additionally, I came with copies of my NV business license and my NV taxation info. I found a store that was wholesale only, Bennet Gems & Stones, Inc, they had a minimum of $200 with cabochons sold at the per gram or carat pricing. They had so many quality cabochons at good prices. For me this was where I would like to go to get specific cabochons that I can’t easily find online. So, goals had been set in the ideal world. This was pretty much the end of our day at Kino.

It was at this point I had a minor epiphany; how did I want to go about making/acquiring my cabs for the jewelry? Did I want to make my own cabochons or buy them already polished and ready to go? Originally the answer was that I wanted to find my own rocks and make the cabochons from those. Now the debate is of buying the rocks from mines/dealers and cut my own cabochons still. Which will cost a lot of money to buy all the equipment, rewire the house, build a shed with insulation (along with getting it plumbed for water and wired for electrical so I can have it heated and maybe cooled in the summers) and still buy the rocks. Or to buy the cabochons directly in bulk and go this route. Then once there’s enough money to do all the previously mention equipment and all it would be time to consider a change in direction.

We decided last minute due to having time to go to JOGS show. Which turned out to be all high end or higher priced items ranging from cabochons to fully finished pieces of jewelry and home décor which not all was rock related. I got to meet someone I followed on Instagram @danthecabman and admired his work creating some beautiful turquoise cabochons. I decided to buy 2 #8 Nevada turquoise cabochons. Additionally, I got some creative ideas for displays for in person shows for me in the future.

One day we decided to go to the 22^nd Street show, this is the 1^st one that had pay parking of $10 which in the grand scheme of things isn’t much really. The only vendor that stood out to me was Village Silver Smith which had cabochons for sale at the per gram or carat pricing which wasn’t bad. There was no minimum for this vendor, which was nice. Upon further research I realized that they only sell at the show, but I did get a few pictures and will look for them next time I go to the gem show.

The final day of the shows we went back to Kino so I could look at the pricing of rocks in the rough, rocks that are uncut and ready for processing, so I could get an idea on pricing. One vendor towards the front or by the primary air-cooled pavilion. They had prices ranging from $1.50 to $20.00 per pound and that can add up quickly. Though that vendor had a bulk pricing option so there’s a small bonus. We went through a different part of Kino we had missed last time, and I got some great ideas for storage of rock supplies.

My overall takeaways from the shows were that it didn’t seem as ‘energetic’ as my first time going, could be coming on almost the 1^st week it opened this time vs last time I was there during the last week of it. I saw way more imported cheap stuff being sold at high prices at all venues we went to which for me was slightly disheartening but that’s business I suppose. Something for everyone. For the future of my jewelry business, I need to look into what the differences are in the POS systems, and which would be best for me in the long run. I have daily goals for creating pieces and have branched off into creating some earrings which are fun, and I’ll have picture posted soon. Then I might start a sales page branching off my blog posts so it’s all in one place. Time to go home and managed to get a few more good pictures.

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