A New Look for Old Stone

John Reid Blackwell's piece on the new Charles Luck Stone Centers in today's Times-Dispatch does a good job of describing our efforts to dramatically rebrand the architectural stone corner of our business.

The Richmond area is about to get a new, upscale shopping experience.

But this store isn't about suits, shoes, jewelry or handbags.

It's all about stone.

Luck Stone Corp., a company perhaps best known for its quarries in Virginia, is putting the finishing touches on a new architectural stone store next to its Goochland County headquarters.

The store -- or studio, as the company calls it -- is modeled in part after high-end fashion shops and ritzy hotels, with some of the same amenities.

The new studio also is the focus of an ambitious rebranding effort for Luck Stone's architectural stone business, aimed at attracting customers whose idea of fashion goes beyond what they wear to the very stones that shape and decorate their homes and businesses.

"This is not your typical showroom," said Charles Luck IV, Luck Stone Corp's president and chief executive officer. "We want this to be a place where somebody dreams and thinks about using stone in ways they have never thought of before."