Back in November, Jewelry by Designs on Smoketown Road announced it was closing its doors and clearing its inventory.
Now, during a global pandemic, it has reopened under new ownership by the Nelson Coleman Company.
The Nelson Coleman Company is a family-run jewelry business and the owner of Nelson Coleman Jewelers in Baltimore. The company is headed by Amanda Coleman, its CEO, who also acts as Jewelry by Designs’ chief of sales and strategist. Coleman came into ownership of the store when approached by its former owner, Jenny Caro, who had overhead Coleman discussing opening a new store, and proposed that she purchase Jewelry by Designs.
“She [Caro] approached me […] and was like ‘we’re gonna have a going out of business sale, we’ve decided to close the store, and instead of you opening up another location would you be interested in buying our store?’ And so we kind of started the journey right then and there,” said Coleman.
After finalizing the purchase of the store in March, Coleman remodeled the interior.
“We did all new carpets, new paint, we did reconfigure some of the cases and created a seating area up front. And we redid the kid’s corner, we put a Play Station there,” said Coleman.
Along with the new decor and environment, Jewelry by Designs also received a revamp in its inventory. A third of the business done at Nelson Coleman Jewelers consists of estate and antique jewelry, and much of that collection was brought to Jewelry By Designs, as well as various pieces of bridal jewelry.
“…[estate and antique jewelry] is something I know [the old Jewelry By Designs] didn’t really have a lot of before,” said Coleman.
The global coronavirus pandemic has meant Coleman has not been able to bring back all the store’s employees. She’s had to change her original plans for grand opening and had to make a large investment in personal protective equipment (PPE) for her employees.
“We’re not suffering a hardship, but it’s definitely made us pivot and change how we were going to do things. Just writing our reopening plan has been different because there are guidelines and safety measures that were weren’t anticipating before,” said Coleman.
To ensure customer safety, the store has plexiglass shields on its cases and six-feet social distancing markers on the floor. There is additionally a disinfectant routine that is used on all jewelry and a sanitation schedule that is kept every 30 minutes to an hour.
Even with these restrictions and difficulties, however, Coleman still has plans to expand to more locations sometime in the future.
“While yes expansion is definitely in the plan, it’s kind of taking a backseat right now to see how things unfold with the pandemic,” said Coleman.
Jewelry By Designs is located at 2932 Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
