Lisa Klingaman

Boerne may be a small town, but one store at least has earned a name in international circles. The Alamo Rock Shop, which recently relocated to a storefront on Main Street, has been in business since 1952 and has garnered recognition from people around the globe.

Lisa Klingaman, the current owner, is the granddaughter of the founder of the company. Fred Mattke was interested in rocks and lapidary (the cutting and shaping of rocks) and on a whim began to collect, cut and then sell the finished stones and rocks to interested neighbors and family. Soon, what began as a hobby became a viable business and Fred attached a small store to his house just off of Interstate 10 outside what is now Fair Oaks Ranch. Once a week he hosted a local children’s show on television and invited children to participate in contests. It was a great advertising medium that garnered him more business.

Then in 1979 he handed the shop over to his daughter Helen Pfeiffer; who ran it until January 2007 when her daughter, Lisa took over the business. Lisa decided to move the store to Boerne and business has been booming since.

Lisa confessed that she had no real interest in working the family business at first. “I was an accountant working for a company in San Antonio, but when my daughter was little, I wanted to find a job that gave me flexibility in raising her. I asked my mom, Helen, ‘Can I work for you?’ That was 15 years ago, and I have never looked back.”

Her mother, Helen interjected, “It has been wonderful having Lisa work with me. When she started working she thought she knew nothing about rocks, but having been raised amongst the stalls of the store, she knew more than she thought and can toss out the names of stones without thinking twice.” Mother and daughter now run the store together, although Lisa is the official owner.

There have been some changes to the shop over the years. When Fred owned it he would cut and polish stones himself. As the shop has expanded, they now buy stones and rocks from all over the world including Morocco, Brazil and China. Lisa does not do any rock grinding, cutting or polishing herself, preferring instead to sell the finished product. However, she caters to those enthusiasts who love to get ‘hands-on’ with their finds. Every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, Fernando Lozano, a lapidary with 40 years experience, comes to the shop to teach up to four students the intricacies of grinding, cutting and polishing their stones.

The store is a veritable haven for lapidaries. Geodes of all sizes glisten, and crystals reflect their pure light off the lights. But you don’t have to be a rock collector to appreciate the sheer beauty of these rocks and stones that have been cut into various sizes, some small enough to fit into rings or earrings and others large enough to take up a display cabinet all by themselves.

Lisa explains the reason for having the smaller stones, “Obviously people want to use rocks as display pieces, but they also want to wear stones. We often have ladies coming here with a special outfit. We help them select a setting for necklaces, earrings and bracelets and then they choose the stones and we will create a custom piece of jewelry for them at a fraction of the price they would pay somewhere else.” The store carries a selection of settings from contemporary to more traditional. “We also offer finished products like necklaces and earrings.”

Her mother reminded her of a man who came into the shop recently bearing a business card his aunt had given him for the store. It was one of the first cards from the 1950s.

Lisa also wants to impact the community. “I offer a 15 percent discount to teachers. If any students come in looking for help on a science project, we will help them in any way we can.”

Alamo Rock Shop, the only shop of its kind in Central Texas, is an authorized seller of the supplies rock collectors need, like rock tumblers, grinders. The shop also sells books on the best places to collect rocks for those enthusiasts who spend vacations looking for stones to cut and grind. Even she is surprised sometimes at how far people come just to peruse the store’s shelves.

Crystals: originated from the Greek word “Krystallos" meaning clear ice, and once referred particularly to quartz, and rock crystal.

Lisa has grown up among these rocks but has come to realize that, “There is always something to learn. I was pretty much born into this, and I still don’t know everything.” But one thing she definitely knows is that although she has seen changes in the industry, she has never seen people’s passion for rocks waver. “There’s just something about rocks that (grabs) folks’ interest and then they’re hooked.”

If you want to get hooked on rocks, you can find Alamo Rock Shop at:
1369 S. Main St. Suite 104, Boerne, TX 78706
Phone: (210) 698-2666
Hours of operation: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday