Lewis Jewelers

Jan 17

In their own words

“Lewis Jewelers is a family-owned and operated store. We’re coming up close to our 100-year history. David Lewis is the owner, and he’s third-generation from his dad and granddad that started the store in Detroit, Michigan. They moved out to Ann Arbor in the early ‘70s. Our biggest attribute is a comfortable setting. We are not a suit and tie shop; we’re laid back and casual. We try to have a family feel to the store and want everybody to have fun when they come into the store.”

-Keith

Jason’s Interview with Keith

Jason

We're back on Meet the Jewelers and today we're talking to Lewis Jewelers. Thanks for joining us from Ann Arbor.

Keith, tell us the history of Lewis Jewelers?

Keith

Lewis Jewelers is a family-owned and operated store. We're coming up close to our one-hundred-year history. Since 1921. David Lewis is the owner and he's third generation. His dad and granddad started the store in Detroit, Michigan. Moved out to the Ann Arbor area back in the early 1970s and have been here ever since. We've been in the area almost fifty years.

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Back when I was still going to college, just happened to pick up a job at a jewelry store at the mall near Ann Arbor, at Briarwood Mall, and have been hooked ever since.

Jason
Do you have any other family members in the jewelry industry?

Keith
My wife actually works here at the store as well and I am an outlaw in-law to Mr. Lewis. My wife's sister is married to Mr. Lewis, but it wasn't that way when I started here.

My wife's family had been customers with the Lewises for many years. When I came to work, that just brought the family a little bit closer. Then, Mr. Lewis had become very much enamored with my wife's younger sister. And the rest is history, as they say.

Jason
Tell us about the shift with the Internet changing the way consumers buy jewelry. How has that allowed you guys to shift into being such a reputable store?

Keith
Mr. Lewis has always been focused and open to change, so that's definitely something that's made us very malleable over the years. The pace has changed so much in the last five years, let alone the last ten years. All the customers seem to want things very quickly. The Internet's made that way. Being very adaptive to custom jewelry is a must and that's something that we pride ourselves a lot on. We have five jewelers on staff here at the store that have over one hundred years combined expertise. That allows us to do a lot of different modifications, create different things, and make things happen on very short notice.

Jason
What else separates your store from the other stores around Ann Arbor?

Keith
Community involvement is another thing that's been a legacy of Lewis Jewelers. That's been set forth from David's dad Mort, way back in the early 1970s, helping with just about every community endeavor that walked through their door. We very rarely say no to any kind of donation and/or giving experience. We try to play a part and give back to the community. If you don't have a community around you, you don't have a whole heck of a lot.

Jason
Tell us a few that are top of mind right now as we go into the holiday season.

Keith
ChadTough is a fundraising organization that started a few years back, and they have a lot of tie-in to Michigan athletics because, it's actually the Carr family, Lloyd Carr was a Michigan football coach. It was his grandson that passed away due to this really bad cancer. That as a fundraiser has a lot of roots in the area, and that's something we try to participate with in any way that we can. There's Mott Children's Hospital, a part of the U of M Hospital. We do a lot of different things for them. St. Joseph is another hospital we do quite a bit with.

Jason
What do you do with them?

Keith
They have a big charity gala. We've given a one-carat diamond as a raffle item. We've done the champagne thing where people would buy a $100 glass of champagne, giving them entry into winning any of the different donation prizes.

Jason
In terms of pieces right now, what can they come see right now that you're most proud of?

Keith
I would say a lot of the partnerships that we have with the lead designer brands that you would find all over the world.

Hearts on Fire is one of our leading brands that we've been a partner with for many years. Their jewelry line, from engagement rings to fashion jewelry, is unmatched. They do a phenomenal job with their diamonds. We have Roberto Coin, an Italian designer. Attention to detail is super strong. Roberto Coin is unique in that he takes a little ruby and it's tucked in every single piece of jewelry.

We have quite a few leading watch brands. We have Omega, Breitling, and Tag Heuer.

Jason
What about some up-and-coming jewelry designers?

Keith
One of the newer ones that we've had for a little bit is Gabriel. Gabriel moved itself forward from a design sense, becoming one of the top, most sought-after jewelers in the nation. The stackable bracelet has been a very popular thing over the last two or three years.

Jason
What about the holiday trend right now?

Keith
We're seeing things move towards the warmer colors. Moving away from the white gold and platinum jewelry that's been the way over the last twenty-five years.

Jason
Tell us about a fun proposal experience.

Keith
We had one where a gentleman had their trip planned to Ireland. As I understand it, there is a rock that's over there that has a hole in it that you're supposed to reach through. One on one side, one on the other, and reach through— touching each other's hand is supposed to bring a certain amount of luck and happiness for many years. He planned it out to have his engagement ring be the thing that he slid through the hole to the other side for her. She had no idea that she was getting it.

Jason
What does your store look like on the inside?

Keith
Our biggest attribute is that it's a comfortable setting. We are not a suit and tie shop. We're very low-key, very laid back and casual, and try to have a real family feel to the store.

Jason
How big is the group now?

Keith
We have twenty-two employees. We're nestled in a 2,500 square foot store. We just recently purchased the newer store, we're in the beginning stages of construction. We'll move in next fall, it's going to be a 10,000 square foot store. That just happened within the last 30 days for us, so we're definitely stoked about it.

Jason
How does it differ from where you're at now?

Keith
It's actually just about a mile and a half down the road. It was very important for us to try to stay in our similar location. So it's really just down the road in a freestanding building, located more in the front portion of the property. We'll have some more exposure from the traffic of the shopping center, and then it's a little bit closer to a bigger intersection at Jackson and Stadium Boulevard around the corner. It's a little bit closer to the exit ramp of Highway 94, so that puts us in a stronger traffic area than where we're at right now.

Jason
How do you reach your audience?

Keith
That's one of the things that I'm in charge of and it's a fun experience. We have a strong digital imprint. We tackle all the traditional ways of doing billboards, a little bit of print. We do a lot with the local magazines. There's one called The Brick, a woman's empowerment magazine. One of our bigger focuses over the last few years has been working on customer referrals, mainly with reviews. And in the last two years, we've been able to gain ourselves over 500 customer testimonies on Google alone.

Jason
What do you want Meet the Jewelers to know as they're deciding where they should go for their engagement ring or anniversary piece?

Keith
Trust is the biggest thing. Coming to Lewis Jewelers, you know that you can trust us. There isn't anything that we can't help you with, but more importantly, we can help you make the best decision in an easy comfortable platform and a stress-free environment. We're all non-commissioned here at the store, so it's truly a stress-free shopping environment.

We've been around and we've made ourselves such a part of the community.