Our History


The Gem Shop & Diamond Source began as a Rock Shop in 1967. My father Bruce Mueller, was a Science teacher at Auburn High School, in Rockford, IL. and had summers off. During that time, we would travel and collect Rocks, fossils, crystal specimens and the like which were used for teaching his classes.

Shirley had found that selling a few of the pieces from card tables on my Great-grandparents front porch near Traverse City Michigan, could be considered a business, and allowed a mileage deduction from their taxes! On a teachers income in the sixties, this small savings was a welcome relief.

The location was on the main tourist highway for that part of the state which caused business to boom, an unexpected burden on my Great-grandparents, who suggested that Bruce and Shirley help them run the business the next summer.

My Great-grandparents Walter and Mae Carter continued to run the front porch business with my parents help, while my Grandparents, Bill and Hazel Coats, who lived just across the highway, pitched in whenever needed as well.

In 1968, the old barn, which my Great-grandmother Mae had already pulled down with a tractor, was cleaned out by Bruce, and a transformation was begun as seen in the pictures below. The roof was completed during the summer of '68, and the ceiling and walls (of rough sawn Cedar) and windows were completed the following year. Lighting, purchased at auction from a closed school building, was also installed. All of this work was done by my Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather.

With summers off from teaching, business hours were established at 9 AM to 9 PM seven days a week. Now think about that! That is 84 hours per work week, with no days off, for the duration of summer vacation. These hours were maintained for the first 18 years! During this time, my parents frequently had people stop by and complain, that they had been by the shop several times, but that they could never catch them open!

Over the years jewelry was added by Shirley, at first made from gems they cut by hand, later, tiring of the commercial mountings available at that time, custom gold and silver-smithing was added. We gradually acquired the capability to produce the entire piece, as well as any repair work needed for the customers existing jewelry.

With this experience, I first began working in Illinois at the Union Hall stores Jewelry department as Christmas help, I moved on to a Jeweler at Cherryvale Mall in Rockford Illinois, but was unhappy with some of the practices there.

As the Michigan location, still called the C&M Rock shop, remained seasonal, our vast inventory was stored throughout the school year. It began to make sense to open an Illinois Location to be operated year-round, which I would run during the summers myself. Thus the Gem Shop was born in October of 1981 a year after my graduation.

Throughout our history we have always been a family owned and operated business. As such, there is a great desire to make sure that all of our customers are satisfied, something that is often lacking in big retail stores these days.

We are very proud of our history, which dates back over 35 years, and involves the efforts of 4 generations. Having been both a witness to what it has taken to build the business, and directly involved in it for over 20 years myself, I can assure you, we will do our very best to satisfy your needs as a customer. Thank you for your time!



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