Spent a full day going to 4 stone yards in town to secure the best stone at the best price for a project I'm doing for a customer. I can say that Stone Center had the best stone, the best price AND the best service. We bought 18,000 lbs of stone from them and had it delivered.
Stone comes from quarries... you will find the same stone at various stone yards, like in most industries... we saw the exact same stone for double the price at a stone yard out east. We were in the yard for 30 minutes at another place and nobody ever approached us, and when we went inside they seemed annoyed to answer my questions. At yet another yard, without context, they said if my customer came to look at the stone they wouldn't tell her any of the prices.. that didn't sit well with me. I make money from my skills and labor, not by being a middle man and marking up retail prices..
At stone center they came out immediately to help us in the yard, were eager to assist and were knowledgeable about the product and pricing. They had the best pricing in town by far. We will be coming back here for all future stone projects!