01 / 03Our Story
We built the store we couldn't find.
Stoneage started in 2019 with 250 square feet of retail space and one stubborn idea.
It started as a shopping trip that went on for years
Before we opened anything, we went looking. We visited crystal shops and metaphysical stores across the country, walked the floors, talked to owners, and bought plenty of stones. We met generous people carrying real knowledge. We also noticed something.
Most of these stores were hard to find, and many were built around one owner and one practice, so the shelves reflected a single point of view. If your path matched, you were home. If it didn't, or if you'd never held a crystal, there was no obvious place to begin.
We didn't think that world needed a different belief. It needed a different door.
We came to it from the natural products side
Before this we built a management group that helped natural supplement and plant derived companies grow their operations in the United States. That work taught us what disciplined sourcing, real inventory and trained staff look like. Crystals had rarely been given any of it.
Two hundred and fifty square feet
In 2019 we opened that door. 250 square feet at Cross Creek Mall, tucked into the food court wing where the whole mall walked past us every day. Bright, clean, labeled, and staffed by somebody whose job was to answer your questions rather than correct them.
People who had walked past this category their entire lives stopped, picked something up, and asked what it was. That was the whole idea, and it worked in the smallest space we could afford.
Eighteen months later we opened at Mall of Georgia, the largest store we have, and the idea stopped being a theory. It became somewhere you brought your mother, your daughter, your skeptical friend. We've been building that same store ever since, center by center.
We are still at Cross Creek Mall, in a different unit. Cross Creek Mall, Fayetteville →
02
What we promise hasn't changed.
- We buy from sources we know and have worked with for years, and we inspect what arrives before it reaches a shelf.
- We label our stones honestly, including how they formed and whether they were treated.
- Our people learn the geology and the lore, and offer both without pushing either.
- Our floors are clean, our cases are full, and nobody here is going to tell you that you're doing it wrong.
03 / 03The People
The stores, and the people who run them.
Science on one side, intention on the other. That pairing is the whole idea here, and it's why a believer and a skeptic get the same welcome.
Gokhan Yavuz
Founder & Chief Executive
Started the company with a single piece he could not put down. Still personally approves every specimen large enough to need two people to lift.
- Fire
- Aries
- Their Stone
- Carnelian
“The stone of drive and nerve, which is more or less the job. It is what I reach for when I need to stop overthinking and start.”
- First Stone
- Not a stone at all: a mineral kit, with the testing tools and the cards that tell you what each specimen is and how it formed. The geology came first.
- On the Desk
- A citrine cluster beside the monitor. It carries an old name, the merchant's stone, coined by people who actually ran shops.
Asked Most
“Do you actually believe this stuff works?”
I don't ask anyone to choose. I came up through a mineral kit and a geology fixation, then picked up a tarot deck as a teenager. I have had the science and the metaphysical on the same plate my whole life, and I run the company on both. I don't sell crystals as medicine and I never will. But I have watched people walk out a little more grounded for years, and I take that seriously.
Kaan Sakar
Partner & Chief Financial Officer
Keeps the company honest about what it can actually afford. The reason we open one store at a time rather than seventy at once. Knows pi to forty decimal places.
- Their Stone
- Amethyst
“It is my birthstone.”
- First Stone
- Quartz, on a summer break, at 8.
- On the Desk
- An amethyst cluster, a rainbow fluorite tower, pyrite, a sodalite tower, a copper pyramid and clear quartz. Anything that would look right there ends up there.
Asked Most
“Where is the bonus sheet?”
Adam Petrey
Head of E-Commerce & Fulfillment
Runs the half of the company customers never see. Every piece photographed individually before it ships is his standard.
- Air
- Aquarius
- Their Stone
- Ruby in Zoisite
“It bridges imagination and reality. The ruby sparks the idea; the zoisite is what gets it built.”
Ruby in zoisite really is two minerals in one rock. The metaphor is the geology.
- First Stone
- Angelite, at 18, the week high school ended. He bought it for the uncertainty that came with it.
- On the Desk
- Pyrite, at the home workstation, kept there for the hard tasks.
Asked Most
“Which crystal should I start with?”
Put the guide down and look at the shelf. Pick whichever one grabs you: the color, the texture, or something you cannot name. Your intuition gets there before your head does. You can look up what it is supposed to mean afterwards.
Ahmet Gorucu
Operations Manager & Head of Buying
Decides what earns shelf space and, more often, what does not. If a piece disappoints in the hand, it never reaches a store.
- Air
- Libra
- Their Stone
- Tiger's Eye and Black Tourmaline
“They make me feel more powerful.”
- First Stone
- An amber necklace, at 7.
- On the Desk
- A chunk of lapis lazuli, which he says levels up his creativity.
Kirk Strickland
Asst. Regional Manager & Director of Event Operations
Runs the shows, the markets, and the days a store has to be three times its usual self. Also the reason every manager gets the same answer to the same question. Has collected rocks his whole life and now does it for a living.
- Earth
- Taurus
- Their Stone
- Green Goldstone
“The sparkle and the color first, because green is my color. Then the balance and the growth it stands for. I wear it every day.”
Goldstone is glass, copper flecked and made rather than mined.
- First Stone
- A rough emerald, given to him on his first birthday.
- On the Desk
- Fluorite for focus, goldstone for drive.
Asked Most
“Where do I start with the metaphysical side?”
Learn the chakras and the color that goes with each. It is a way into understanding yourself first, and once you have it you start seeing those colors everywhere, in the stones and outside the store too.
Allie Trudel
Regional Operations Manager
Moves between the stores keeping them feeling like one company. Notices the shelf you walked past twice.
- Earth
- Virgo
- Their Stone
- Kyanite and Malachite
“Kyanite never looks the same twice. Malachite I love for the green alone, and the rest is a bonus.”
- First Stone
- Tumbled chrysoprase, as a teenager. Still in her collection.
- On the Desk
- Tiger's eye, ocean jasper and vanadinite: focus, steadiness and organization, in that order.
Asked Most
“Does Florida Water smell like swamp?”
No. It is clean and sweet and citrusy, and you can dilute it down to whatever strength you want. People wear it as a cologne, or use it in a practice the way they would use sage.
Anjellica Nokes
Digital Marketing Manager
Responsible for the fact that you found us at all. Has learned these stones by photographing them, one at a time.
- Fire
- Sagittarius
- Their Stone
- Tiger's Eye
“I keep finding my way back to it. It keeps me grounded.”
- First Stone
- Rocks from Ruby Falls, the kind you pick out yourself. She has no idea how old she was, only that she got to take them home.
- On the Desk
- A rough iron tiger's eye she found in her first week. It has not moved since, and she reaches for it on the loud days.
Asked Most
“How do we make this a cool photo?”
I have a few ideas. Let's go play.
Laura Rincon
Graphic Designer & Social Media Manager
Designs everything with the name on it, then puts it where people are already looking. The card under the specimen is hers too.
- Water
- Pisces
- Their Stone
- Rose Quartz
“I have always loved that a crystal can become a little reminder of something you want to carry with you: calm, confidence, love, or just a good memory.”
- First Stone
- Clear quartz at 8, from her mother, as an amulet for getting through math tests.
- On the Desk
- A rose quartz suncatcher, for the rainbows it throws across the room.
Whether you came for the chemistry, the intention, the zodiac, the moon, or because something on the table simply caught your eye, there's a place for you at Stoneage.