|
The Bijoux Story |
| A Victorian carriage house on a tree-lined street in Manchester, New Hampshire is home to Bijoux Extraordinaire. We chose this unique setting, because we love stately Victorian houses, beautiful jewelry and fine antiques. We are not your typical retail jeweler, so we do not have to look like one! |
|
|
The idea for Bijoux Extraordinaire began when Judi and I first met in 1992. Judi was a nationally recognized gemologist and jewelry appraiser who owned a guild-trade jewelry store. I had a background in finance and shared with Judi a love for beautiful antique and custom jewels. Together, we wanted to create a new kind of "jewelry store" where consumers could hire a jewelry expert to help them make wise decisions when purchasing fine jewelry and gemstones. In March of 1993, Bijoux Extraordinaire and its sister gemological laboratory, Certified Gems, were incorporated in the State of New Hampshire. We chose to focus our business on four important services for the jewelry consumer: On February 2, 1994, Judi and I were married. Judi let me select Ground Hog's Day as our wedding date. I wanted an easy date to remember for our anniversary! During 1994 and 1995, our reputation grew rapidly throughout New England and we began to attract clients from as far away as New York and Connecticut. A contributor to our growth is a series of weekly workshops that Judi teaches each spring and fondly refers to as Bijoux University. In these workshops Judi emphasizes jewelry and gemstone knowledge and consumer protection. Topics include diamonds, pearls, colored gemstones, estate jewelry and fine contemporary jewels. Many of our clients are graduates of Bijoux U. |
| Early in 1996, we moved to new offices in what was once a large Queen Anne Victorian estate. We spent quite a bit of time painting, redecorating and acquiring just the right pieces of antique furniture. The offices came out great. We warned you that we love old Victorian buildings and period decorative arts. |
|
|
We also launched our web site - www.JewelryExpert.com. The Internet presented a wonderful opportunity to work with and educate jewelry consumers outside of the New England area. On our web site we showcase several galleries of custom and antique jewelry, a jewelry library full of informative articles on jewelry and gemstones, and helpful descriptions of the services we offer. During 1997 and 1998, we experienced rapid growth both locally and over the Internet. Our strong following in New England continues to grow. We are constantly meeting new friends and clients throughout the world. In the past two years we have had over 250,000 visitors to our web site. Over the Internet we have helped clients throughout the United States and as far away as Japan, Guam, Spain and Australia. 1999 was a year of exciting jewelry projects. Because of the growth of our business, we moved to a new, larger gallery in a beautifully renovated Victorian carriage house. The new quarters allowed us to expand our gemological laboratory and add another jewelry gallery. Of course, this was also an opportunity to got out and acquire more pieces of antique furniture! But, the move did not distract us from client projects. We created a stunning platinum riviere necklace with 41 carats of diamonds. Bold gemstones like fancy colored diamonds and stunning tanzanites were also hot and we helped numerous clients acquire important gemstones. As a result, throughout the year we were busy creating many new and exciting custom designed jewels. 2001 and 2002 have been busy years as demand for our custom jewels continues to grow in New England and the Boston area. In addition, we are working with more and more clients from throughout the United States and the rest of the world (luckily Manchester has a very convenient airport). International clients include jewelry lovers from the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia and my two favorites, Guam and the Marshall Islands. Our success is living proof that fine jewelry is an international passion! Thank you for being part of the Bijoux Story. |
|
|
| P.S. | If you would like to learn more about Bijoux Extraordinaire, please check out the following: |
|
|
|
||
|
| Bijoux Home Page | Jewelry Galleries | What's New! | | About Us | Services We Offer | Reading Room | Site Map | If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please give us a call (603 624-8672) or send us an email.
|
||
|
|
||