The Rock Shop in downtown Homewood is a warm and welcoming store where you can go to get a new book, crystal, guitar or piece of jewelry.
The Rock Shop, you can feel the gentle atmosphere of the store with nice playful music playing in the background. There is a variety of soft couches that you can comfortably sit on while reading a book.
The original owner of Bookie’s Keith Lewis wanted to keep Bookies from closing, so to save it he collaborated with Laura Burni and her husband Craig Frank.
The new store The Rock Shop opened on November 22 of 2022. According to the H-F Chronicle, “The reopening was enabled by a partnership with two other local businesspeople. Lewis teamed up with Bruni and Frank, who opened The Rock Shop in the same space as Bookie’s. Bruni specializes in stones. Frank sells vinyl records and custom-made guitars.”
Due to different mindsets in the store, Lewis ended up leaving shortly after handing over the business to Bruni, “An extreme difference in personality and business style made it impossible for this partnership to work. It was a very hard decision, but it is what’s best for Bookie’s and its employees,” said Lewis.
Bruni became one of the owners of The Rock Shop two years ago. “My fiance was going to open up a record store and I was just going to keep him company and do my editing business, but he got a job offer at the very last moment before we signed the lease. It was too good for him to turn down, so I opened it as my business,” she stated.
Frank helps out by selling his vinyl and guitars while Bruni sells her books, crystals and antiques. The Rock Shop holds activities for kids in the neighborhood and neighboring town kids to hear a fun story and play with animals. On Aug.14, Bruni and Frank had a story time with baby ducks which the kids were able to play with.
Bruni started to do $10 mystery bags of books. “The mystery bags each have three books. One is a first-edition mystery or thriller, the other two are surprises. They might also be first-editions or science fiction or a classic,” she said.
The Rock Shop gets new books every week. Bruni helps customers find good picks of books by sorting them with stickers, dictating how new or expensive a book is. They all go from $5 to $20 each.
The Rock Shop may be known by some people but, others not so much. Some people may confuse the Rock Shop and Bookies and think they are fully closed. While bookies may be closed the Rock Shop is still standing.
On the latest news, on Bruni’s Instagram she posts events that are going on the following week as well as new books, jewelry and antique fines.
