Bay Hill Jewelers

May 28

In their own words

“We are a family business. We want to give every client that walks into our location the most personalized experience they can have while shopping for a precious piece of jewelry. When you’re doing what you love doing, it’s hard to fail. I knew in my heart that I would do well as long as I love going to work every day. Seventeen years later, I feel the same way walking into that store as I did at our grand opening.”

-Stacey Papp

Jason’s Interview with Stacey

Jason

We're live on Meet the Jewelers and today we're talking to Stacey Papp from Bay Hill Jewelers. What's the story behind the brand?

Stacey

We are a family business, we are passionately in love with experience and design. We want to give every client that walks into our location the most personalized experience that they can have while they're shopping for a precious piece of jewelry.

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Jason
How did the company start?

Stacey
We started the company after I had been designing with Lightning Jewelers when they were privately owned. They had 124 stores and I was working with them as a manager, designer, helping with the catalogs, merchandising. The company ended up selling and became a corporation. I did not prefer to work for a corporation. I really wanted to stay in the boutique business. I took a wild chance in my twenties and decided that I would try to open up my own store.

I was nervous, but I thought if I didn't give it a chance, how could my dream ever come true? So, I took a chance and opened up a tiny boutique, borrowed a lot of jewelry, took out a credit line, and pretty much took all the money that I had saved. When you're doing what you love doing, it's really hard to fail. I feel the same way walking into that store that I did day one on our grand opening.

Jason
Tell us about that personal experience. What is it like when somebody enters your store?

Stacey
It feels like you're entering someone's home. We want you to instantly feel comfortable. We want you to lose all of those jitters that you have about walking into a high-end jewelry store. We recently renovated our oldest location. The store never had fancy showcases, it was a little bit worn in.

Jason
Are there any key things you did with the renovation?

Stacey
We decided that we would showcase our brands and our designs. You still have that feel of something that's always been there, like an old leather chair that's been in your home for years. We're just going to add a little bit of beauty around them.

Jason
Do you have any other family members there with you?

Stacey
We have several family members that work for the company and our master craftsman, Harry Blair, is pretty much like our granddad. Anyone who comes in the store knows that he is our leader. He is so special. He is so heartwarming and wonderful, clients will wait hours just to sit and talk with him for a few minutes. People bring him coffee and stop just to say hello.

Jason
How did he get incorporated with your group?

Stacey
Harry is a master craftsman from the northeast, and he came to Florida to retire. We met, we became friends. I asked him three months later if he would come out of retirement and he agreed to. He lives for the jewelry industry. He is up and out front almost every day.

Jason
I want to know if there's something you want Meet the Jewelers to know.

Stacey
You will always receive warm genuine feedback, you will always receive expertise, you will always have a friend to guide you in the jewelry business as long as Bay Hill Jewelers is here. I love every minute of what I do and every moment that they share with us. There's nothing more special than that.

Jason
You've probably heard so many proposals. Tell us one or two that really blow your socks off.

Stacey
One of the most memorable was a gentleman who decided to propose last minute, he only gave us a few days to put together a beautiful ring. He was leaving for Las Vegas to propose on a Friday. The ring finished on Friday, I had to jump on a plane to deliver it to him. I was bringing it into the restaurant so that they could set up the proposal moment. I was walking out of the restaurant and saw my client—he is a pro ball player, so he's very tall and easy to spot. I saw him walking towards me with his girlfriend who knows me from the jewelry store, so I leapt into this brush that was on the side of the restaurant. I started climbing through to get to the other side of the restaurant so I wouldn't run into the client. I was giggling and laughing and trying to get away so they wouldn't see me. I laughed the whole way home, jumped on a plane, and got the message that the proposal went well. It was fantastic.

Jason
Your team, who are other key players?

Stacey
If you are in Winter Park, you can stop by and say hi to Jen. She is our wonderful manager there. We've just opened a new location downtown on Orange Avenue, where we all sort of chip in and spend our time. Any of us are happy to help. We all switch places and make sure that we're sharing the workload, so you can pretty much go to any store and find the same people.

Jason
What's the best contact to get ahold of you, Stacey?

Stacey
You could call any of the stores, or you can go on to our website. We have a twenty-four-hour text message service, you can send us any questions. We're happy to help you via text message. We also have a concierge service that we provide to all of our clients that are busy, so we will bring you whatever you need.

Our downtown store is right in the heart of Orlando, in the heart of the city. There's 8,000 residents. We decided to start the concierge program for the busy person who can't get out of the office to go shopping. We will come to you and make your experience a little bit easier. You can choose your items via text, via the Internet, and we’ll bring them right over to you, choose what you like, and we'll take back anything that you don't like. We are happy to travel anywhere to help our clients save on their time in their busy schedule.