Best Jewelry Stores

Products offered

Jewelers sell a wide range of products made from a variety of materials.

• Watches: Some jewelers sell watches and other timepieces in addition to traditional jewelry. The watches sold by jewelers differ from those sold in traditional stores; they are usually made of precious metals like silver, gold and white gold. The watches often contain stones like diamonds to make them pieces of beauty and high value.
• Diamond companies: Some jewelers focus on selling jewelry that features diamonds, and they often specialize in selling engagement rings to couples planning marriage. Buyers looking for a diamond engagement ring should choose a diamond company, since they often have a large variety of stones in different sizes and colors to suit different tastes.
• Ceramic or beaded jewelry: There are some jewelry companies that do not sell metallic or stone based jewelry, but instead, offer ceramic and beaded pieces that are often crafted by hand. These pieces can often have more intricate look, but a more casual aesthetic than finer jewelry.

Services offered

Jewelers can offer customers a range of extra services in addition to selling pieces of jewelry or doing simple repairs.

• Appraisal: Some jewelers stores have the ability to analyze a piece of jewelry a customer already has, then tell them the worth of that piece; many of these companies will purchase jewelry from customers or accept it as a trade-in for a new purchase.
• Jewelry refurbishment: Jewelers that specialize in jewelry refurbishment specialize in refurbish old, antique, and vintage pieces of jewelry; beyond simply fixing jewelry that is broken, these companies can take pieces that have been weathered over many years and restore them to as if they were new. This refurbishment often takes a very skilled craftsman.

• Customization services: Jewelers may offer consumers customization services. To customize jewelry, customers can do a range of things like getting the jewelry engraved with a monogram, designing a unique combination of stone and metals or resizing a piece so it becomes a much larger or smaller piece than it once was. For example, making a necklace that is too small for a customer into a new and unique bracelet.

Warranties and protection

Jewelry companies often offer customers warranties to protect the goods they purchase. There are many types of warranties that cover products for certain periods of time. They also offer policies to help customers protect their investment.

• Lifetime warranties: Jewelry companies that offer lifetime warranties will guarantee the jewelry for its life. This means that if it breaks, tarnishes or becomes damaged, the company will replace or repair it at no cost to the customer.
• Jewelry insurance: Some companies offer customers insurance policies along with the jewelry; thus, if something happens to the piece they purchase, the policy will reimburse them for some of the cost.
• Limited time guarantees: Most jewelers offer a guarantee of some kind for new pieces of jewelry, which means that customers have a certain amount of time during which a jeweler will replace or restore broken or tarnished jewelry. Sellers of used jewelry rarely offer warranties.

Company staff

Jewelry companies often have a variety of staff onboard, and the companies do not just consist of people who sell jewelry.

• Artisans and engravers: The artisans and engravers at a jewelry company are the skilled workers who can alter a piece of jewelry; these people add monograms, make repairs, and customize products for customers.
• Gem experts: Many companies have skilled gemologists onboard who have studied the history and science of gems, and these experts can tell customers about the worth of pieces, their makeup, as well as a how to maintain and care for them so they last through the years.
• Customer service team: Jewelry is a large investment; so many jewelry companies have a dedicated customer service team on staff. This team helps manage payments and transactions for customers, and they can also field questions and concerns they have; these dedicated staff are also skilled at fielding inquiries from unsatisfied customers, as well as those who want to use their warranty or return a piece.

Certifications

Jewelers can hold a number of certifications that prove their level of skill, dependability and service.

• Bench professional certification: Bench professional certifications declare that a professional is qualified to both sell and repair jewelry, and there are several levels of bench professional certification that indicate the level of skill a jeweler has. Customers can often bring jewelry purchased somewhere else to a bench jeweler, who will repair the jewelry for a fee.
• GIA certification: The Gemological Institute of America, or GIA, certifies the diamonds that jewelers sell, and they are considered to have the strictest of grading standards when it comes to certifying the quality of diamonds and diamond jewelry.
• Jewelry degrees: There are many academic degrees that jewelers can obtain, including a B.A. in jewelry design, an associate degree in jewelry design and a certificate in jewelry.

Jewelry source

Jewelry stores can get the products they sell from a range of different sources.

• Artisan jewelers: Artisan jewelers hand-make each piece of jewelry individually and sell only the jewelry they make in their stores. This means that each piece that is sold is unique and one of a kind. Artisan jewelers often also make jewelry out of unique materials, like beads, non-precious metals, freshwater pearls, seashells and more.
• Estate jewelers: Some jewelers collect jewelry from estate sales and resell the jewelry to customers. In some cases, families of people who have deceased will call in jewelers to appraise and purchase jewelry from the estate, and the jeweler will then take the jewelry he has purchased and resell it for profit, often after restoring and cleaning it, at a jewelry store.
• Popular jewelry designers: There are many large, popular makers of jewelry throughout the world, and some jewelers sell a curated collection of jewelry pieces from other designers and manufacturers, like Stuller, Inc., David Yurman, or I. Reiss.

Handmade jewelry artisans

Handmade jewelry artisans specialize in creating unique pieces of jewelry by hand. These artisans sell jewelry that is not available in any retail store or online shop but their own. For one-of-a-kind jewelry that buyers won't see worn by anyone else, choose to shop at an artisan jeweler.

Large jewelry store chains

Some jewelers work at large chains of jewelry stores. These large jewelry chains have retail outposts in many locations across the country.

Specialized jewelers

Specialized jewelers focus on one product or material, such as diamonds, gold or engagement rings. This means that they offer a greater selection of one type of jewelry, and they often have specialized knowledge about how to maintain, clean, care for and customize that one type.

Bench jewelers

Bench jewelers are jewelers who specialize both in selling pieces of jewelry, as well as working to restore and repair tarnished or broken jewelry.

Couples getting engaged

Couples getting engaged may turn to a jewelry store for an engagement ring. They often shop for gold rings for a wedding or diamond rings to celebrate an engagement.

People looking to restore antique jewelry

People who want to restore antique jewelry may turn to a jeweler to make an old piece look like new. Jewelers who do repair and restoration can help return an antique piece of jewelry close to its original state.

Customers looking to buy a luxury gift

Jewelry is a popular gift for a special occasion, particularly romantic occasions like anniversaries or Valentine's Day, and momentous events like graduation. Jewelers can help provide luxury gift items that are valuable and high-quality enough to mark a very special occurrence.

Religious consumers celebrating milestones

Many people who are religious use jewelry as a gift or memento to mark a religious occasion like a Christening, Baptism, Bat Mitzvah or Confirmation.