Local First: Freshmans Jewelers
By Saintless. Filed in Local First |
It’s time for another installment about how great local companies can be. This time, it’s Freshmans Jewelers, on 353 East 500 South in downtown Salt Lake City.
I was recently jabbering on Twitter about not knowing my ring sizes, and I got a message from @Freshmans1895, offering to size my fingers for me. I checked, and since they were right around the corner from my office, I let them know I’d be down later in the day.
I went in to see Zach and get my fingers measured. (Side note: this isn’t for an engagement ring. Though I do have that size also. :) Zach was working in the back, but came out front to help me. He got out a big ring with ring sizers on it, and was a bit apologetic because the rings were hard to read. He mentioned that his grandfather had made the rings years ago. Talk about a family business! I don’t think there are many more around like this one.
Walking into the store reminded me of the small, family owned jewelery stores I went into when I was little, except this one seems to also cater to hobbyists. I am not certain what all of the shelves of equipment and pieces were for, but I bet you could get an idea by looking around on their online store, if that sort of thing interests you.
There were also well-lit cases with jewelery, stones and various empty settings in them. I asked Zach whether they made all of the jewelery in house, and he said they made some, but not all. They have other designers’ pieces, as well. From looking around and from talking to him, it looks as if the pieces ranged from inexpensive silver that might have even been mass produced, to very custom and unique pieces. Zach mentioned that custom wedding sets is what they specialize in. They also seemed to have some very old looking “estate pieces” that would be fun to look through.
I had originally wondered if they scanned through Twitter for sales opportunities, but apparently Zach had recently found my blog through the Salt Lake Tribune’s Culture Vulture blog, and then ran across my tweets.
I adore jewelery, but I rarely wear it, as of late. I am pretty picky about what I wear, but I don’t really have any “nice” jewelery, so I stopped wearing most of it. I sucked it up when my hair got cut short, and have been wearing some pretty cheap earrings, just so I don’t get called a boy (true story). But, I might have to visit this store in the near future for some decent earrings and necklaces to wear “everyday”, and also pick out some nicer pieces that I can make googley eyes at my boyfriend for, next time he’s out of ideas for what to get me for a present.
Oh, and just in case anyone might have need of this information:
Left pinky: size 5
Left ring (wedding band) finger: size 7
Right pinky: size 6 1/2
Right ring finger: size 7 1/2
And if it’s a wider band, add 1/4 of a size
Zach also stored a copy of the sizing information under my name, so that next time, the surprise doesn’t have to get spoiled.
I really enjoyed my brief experience there, and look forward to next time!
Tags: Freshmans Jewelers