'Rock shop' hosts grand opening
Feb. 18—DANVILLE — A variety of activities and giveaways are planned for the grand opening of Sarahlee's Healing Mountain Crystals in its new downtown Danville location, which will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
There will be live music, an herbalist offering natural remedies and teas, a foot detoxing station, henna tattoos, hair wraps, tarot and oracle card readings, palm readings and crystal ball readings.
The business had been open for about a year in Catlin before moving to its new location at 51 N. Vermilion St., Danville.
Owners Sarah and Lee Colby cut a ceremonial ribbon together at the entrance during the shop's soft opening Feb. 2.
The idea for the store stemmed from the couple's separate dreams combining together.
Growing up, Lee started rock hounding — exploring nature to look for rocks, crystals, minerals, gemstones and/or fossils — with his parents, and he said he's been hooked on it from the start.
"All I remember growing up is when we went on vacation, we would go down to North Carolina ... and we would mine for gemstones," he said, adding that he's always been interested in starting a "rock shop" business, but wasn't sure whether it was the right time or right fit for the area since there hadn't been anything like it before.
As a nurse, Sarah described herself as a healer and wanted to provide a space to help people.
"I just want people to be able to come here and heal, whether it's physically, mentally (or) spiritually," she said.
They combined their separate dreams into one, and then turned that dream into a reality by opening their store.
They often take family trips to North Carolina, Arkansas and elsewhere to find gems, stones, crystals and the like. Within the last year, they've started inviting others on their digs, and they are working on planning trips with bigger groups of locals who are interested in joining them.
Lee said 90 percent of the stones found inside the store are ones they've found and tumbled themselves (or within their rock hounding group of friends).
"It's amazing when you pull something like that out of the ground," he said.
Sarah said they pride themselves on finding such gems naturally, and that a lot of them are found in mountains — hence the name Sarahlee's Healing Mountain Crystals.
"A lot of people have an opinion about it without the knowledge of what they can actually do," Sarah said of the crystals, adding that they are willing to help educate those who are interested in learning more.
"We can help to identify the stone and what some of its metaphysical properties are ...," Lee said. "As far as the scientific community is concerned, there's no real solid evidence that they have these metaphysical properties, but then again there's not a lot of solid evidence on a lot of things that we know are true."
The store also offers other products, such as body care, home décor and fragrances, plants and more — all through local vendors. Sarah said all of the vendors have made the products themselves, which she thought was an important aspect and fits the atmosphere inside the store.
"A nice bath makes you feel really good. Buying plants makes you feel good. Having crystals makes you feel good," Sarah said. "Some people just like (crystals) because they're pretty ... Then you've got the rock hounds that have collections, so I feel like we have something for everybody here."
In addition to Saturday's grand opening, Sarahlee's also holds a Wednesday night live event on Facebook to teach about the different crystals they offer. They plan on offering an in person version, too, one they can work it out, Lee said.
Also offered is after-hours yoga on Thursday nights inside the store, and beginning Feb. 25, they will start offering sound healing the last weekend of each month.
Sarah said there are other events they plan on hosting in the future, like wild tea parties and spiritual drumming.
To stay up to date on business hours and upcoming events for the store, visit Sarahlee's Healing Mountain Crystals on Facebook.
