Tucson Gem Show Guide: Crystal Expert’s Top Tips & Treasures

You may (or may not) know this about me, but in addition to teaching classes with the Love & Light School, I also own a crystal shop here in Madison, Wisconsin. Each year, I travel to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show for my shop, Mimosa Books & Gifts, with a small team — myself, my shop manager, and our shipping manager — to pick out some amazing crystal treasures from across the globe. Big shows like this can be intimidating, so I've put together this helpful Tucson Gem Show Guide to use when attending! Last year, I wrote a short article with some Tucson Gem Show Tips and some helpful information about spotting crystal fakes, but with more and more people starting their own crystal shops (either in-person or online), I have been getting more questions than ever about how it all works! This year, I've broken down our entire experience into a handy Tucson Gem Show guide, to give you a look behind the curtain at the show, or help you plan your own trip!   2024 Tucson Gem Show Highlights: Before we dig into the specifics of how to shop a show like Tucson, I thought I’d share some notable highlights from the 2024 show: Favorite Crystal Find: Quartz with Epidote Druze from Turkey (Forest Epidote) Best-Quality Gems: Garden Quartz from Brazil (it was off the charts this year!) Most Unexpected Find: Brilliant cerulean Blue Opal from Peru Most Expensive Thing: Weardale Fluorite from the UK Best Value: Gorgeous Rainbow Petrified Wood Palm Stones Most Beautiful Find: Rhodochrosite rosettes on Rhodochrosite and Quartz druze form Peru Most Outrageous Fake: Composite Lepidolite made by binding together chips with plastic Best Jewelry Item: HUGE Manifestation Quartz Pendants Popular Trends: Interesting mineral specimens of all types (clusters are in!) Declining Trends: Mass-produced towers of all types (multiple vendors reported a huge decline in sales) Best New Vendor: From the Mines (Sustainable & Fair Trade Minerals) And with that little wrap-up, let’s dig into our Tucson Gem Show strategy from start to finish! Travel Planning for the Tucson Gem Show: We usually start planning and preparations for the Tucson Show in November or December (the show begins in late January, so this gives us a month or two to make our plans). This is when we book our airfare, rental car, and house for our trip. There’s quite a bit to consider about each of these things when planning your travel… Booking Airfare: After many years of going to the show, we have learned to give ourselves as much space as possible with our flights to make the most of our time in Tucson. On the way out, we catch an early flight (the day before one of the biggest shows opens up), so we have time to settle in (more about that later). On the way home, however, we book a late afternoon flight so we have time to run any last-minute errands, squeeze in some extra shopping, and get to the airport with minimal stress and lots of time to spare. I'd also highly recommend giving yourself extra space for any layovers you may have so you don't miss your connecting flights. We missed our flight this year due to mechanical issues with our flight and got stuck overnight in Dallas (which was very expensive!). Booking a Rental Car: The Tucson Gem Show is one place where having a bigger vehicle comes in handy. We usually rent a small to mid-sized SUV so we have lots of space for hauling minerals and luggage. With 3 of us attending the show, we need the luggage space getting from the airport to our rented house, and there are always a couple of days when we shop so heavily that nearly every free inch of the car is filled with boxes of crystals. We typically rent a hybrid vehicle to save on gas, but a big car is a must for our little team. Renting a House: The first few years I went to the Tucson show, we stayed in a motel. Looking back I don’t know how we did it. It was cramped, impractical, and made it hard to enjoy our time at the show....