Beloved Pierce County store that sold rocks, crystals has closed. It needs a new home
.jpg "Wild Earth Rocks owners Dave and Jenny Weber beam as Erin and Paul Stevens make a purchase at the front counter Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. The store was Jenny’s idea, and Dave grew to love the store and the friendships they built with customers, he said.")
Wild Earth Rocks is where crystals sparkle, people find gifts and young geologists dream.
11-year-old Paul Stevens became intrigued by rocks when he was around 6, looking for them in his yard, he told The News Tribune on Jan. 24 while sitting in the back room of Dave and Jenny Weber’s rock and crystal store at 11607 state Route 302 NW on the Key Peninsula. He paused to ask Dave the name of a rock he’d forgotten. In his hand, he stroked a different rock — vanadinite, Dave said, joking about how hard it is to pronounce. It’s a lead-based mineral that forms reddish crystals, according to Dave.
Paul’s mom, Erin, sat next to him. It’s really hard getting Paul out of this store, she said.
“We’d be driving back home from school and we would pass (the store) and he’d be like: ‘Mom, can I stop at the shop?’ And then he’d be like: ‘I don’t want to buy anything. I just want to see how Dave is.’”
After talking with The News Tribune, Paul brought the piece of vanadinite up to the counter to buy it with his mom. Somehow, two more rocks and a rainbow stuffed snake made it to the register. The Webers beamed as they gave him a steep discount. After Paul gave them both a hug and left, Dave wiped away tears.
“He’s the one I’m going to miss the most,” he said. He and Paul have made many memories talking about rocks at the store and looking at his inventory, he told The News Tribune. He described Paul looking at a particularly special rock as if “he just saw the cutest kitten in the world.”
The store, which sold rocks, crystals, jewelry and other items, closed Sunday, Jan. 26. The Webers had been considering closing since mid-last year, when sales began slowing, according to Jenny. After a strong bout of business in December and January, they thought they could pull through — but then were informed about a zoning issue with the county that meant they could no longer rent the building.
“If we could stay here, we’d stay open,” Jenny said.
Not permitted for a business
Pierce County resident Mavi Macfarlane is the agent for Macthree LLC, the listed owner of the property, according to public Pierce County permit records.
In a phone interview on Feb. 3, Macfarlane said she’s run into issues with Pierce County because she was under the impression that the property was permitted for commercial use, but was told a few weeks ago that this isn’t the case. She planned to refinance a commercial loan on the property that was reaching the end of its 15-year term when she discovered certificates of non-compliance on her property, which prevented her from refinancing the loan.
Macfarlane has owned the property since around 2006, she told The News Tribune. She also said she spoke with a staff member from the county planning department who gave her a list of things she had to do to ensure the building met commercial standards. That included installing ADA-accessible ramps in the front and back of the building, double drywalls and several other additions that cost her thousands of dollars. She said the planning department staff member inspected her work and signed off on it.
In 2010, Macfarlane applied to get the building approved for use as a real estate office instead of a residence through the amnesty program formerly offered by Pierce County for buildings lacking the proper permits, according to county public permit records. She worked for a real-estate firm and used the building for her office at that time.
To remove the lien on her property, Macfarlane said she has to either finalize the residential use permit she was pre-approved for, or file for a change of use to commercial. For now, she’s pursuing the first option because it’s less expensive and won’t take as long, given she has a year to get her loan refinanced, she said. After that’s completed, she’ll turn her attention to filing for a change of use, at which point she will be able to lease the building to another business.
Her plan in the meantime is to rent the downstairs space as a home for a tenant, though she won’t start advertising until she has the residential use permit finalized. The upstairs space is currently occupied by tenants who have been living there for about four or five years, she said.
Building permits are distinct from property zoning. The parcel is zoned as “Rural Neighborhood Center,” which allows commercial sales of merchandise and services, according to county code.
Pierce County spokesperson Christina Rohila wrote in an email on Feb. 5 that “only a residential permit appears to be issued” for the building, so “a change of occupancy and commercial building permit is required to become compliant.”
Taking some time off
After taking some time off, the Webers plan to post their remaining inventory on their website for online orders, according to their announcement on Facebook. The website isn’t ready for orders yet, so Facebook is the best place to stay updated for now, according to Dave Weber.
Wild Earth Rocks is considering moving to a new location. They are on the lookout for possible retail spaces, but they’re not planning to move any farther onto the Key Peninsula because of the low foot traffic, the Webers said. They’ve heard of some places in Gig Harbor and will have more time to search after they finish packing up, according to Jenny.
The store opened in November 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the next four years, the store sold rocks, gems and crystals, from well-known gems like amethyst and opal to minerals like fluorite, aragonite and chrysocolla. They acquired their inventory from both rock and gem shows in places like Denver and Tucson and from wholesale suppliers, according to Jenny.
The Webers, who are from Bremerton, weren’t always into rocks. Dave previously drove trucks and buses, and Jenny was a software engineer. The store started as something Jenny and a friend wanted to do for fun, according to Dave.
He went from helping her load and unload rocks to running the store by himself when Jenny was out of town. It’s something he realized he loved, Dave said, though his real passions are collecting coins and Hot Wheels cars — the latter which he kept in bins and gave out to kids who visited the store.
The store also sold earrings, bracelets and rings, many of which the Webers made themselves, and offered jewelry wire-wrapping classes with the help of local artists.
Key Peninsula resident Nancy Colvill said Dave has custom-made many bracelets and necklaces for her and her husband. She first found out about the store from a friend and said she’s bought more crystals there than anywhere else in the last four years.
One Christmas Eve two or three years ago, Colvill texted Dave and asked if Wild Earth Rocks was open. She needed some last-minute gifts, she said.
They weren’t, but Dave said they’d open the store for her anyway. Her whole family came separately and bought gifts for each other for Christmas. And when other people saw that the store was open, they came too, she recalled.
According to Dave, Wild Earth Rocks was the only rock and gem store of its kind on the Key Peninsula. They tried to offer a range of items for customers who did and didn’t believe in the metaphysical side of rocks and crystals, and also items that make good gifts, “just fun stuff that’s cool,” he said.
Colvill said if Dave and Jenny open another store, she’ll bring her business to them first.
“We will miss them,” Colvill said. “The KP will miss them.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story mischaracterized the zoning of the parcel where Wild Earth Rocks has been located. The parcel is zoned as a Rural Neighborhood Center. This story has also been updated with additional information about the property owner’s application for amnesty and current building permit status.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 10:55 AM.
