Online Jewelers to the Rescue!

I love jewelry stores. Ever since I gained my fashion consciousness at the age of 15, I was very curious about bricks-and-mortar jewelers. Big windows, shiny decors, elegant ladies seamlessly gliding from one display to the other, and the overwhelming bling from all the jewels enclosed together in one store, gave me the chills of excitement. I was so eager to go in and look, and look, and look… but then, there were the shop assistants. They were often judgemental and with big worn-out smiles plastered on their faces. They would judge you by your age, by the jeans you were wearing, by your makeup... They would look for signs of your purchasing power. They would let you into the store, but often reluctantly. After all, what could an adolescent possibly buy from their store? They would consider young women like me a waste of their time. 

There was something very different from clothing stores that allowed you to browse and take your time. In jewelry stores, you would often feel the sight of all shop assistants on your back during the entire visit. In jewelry stores, you would sometimes feel their disappointment and slight annoyance if you left empty-handed. True, their merchandise is much more valuable than a T-shirt, but it doesn’t change the fact that each trip to a jewelry store felt uneasy. So I loved jewelry stores, but only from the outside.

Then, online shops came to the rescue of my accessorizing skills. Finally, I could browse through the unlimited collections of rings, pendants, and earrings. Finally, I didn’t have to time the duration of my visit to a store. Finally, I could take my time to think about my jewelry choices and change my mind five times before I bought something. Let’s face it, Dear Ladies; we can spend hours digging our way through the merchandise, so what better way there is for us to cater to our browsing needs than to shop online?

You might say that this is all true, but in an online shop you can’t try anything on. I say: how many times did you fall in love with a pair of earrings at your local jeweler’s display and wanted to have them no matter what? I once travelled 40 kilometres by bus to another town to get a blue-eyed ring that I saw blinking to me from a closed shop window. I was visiting the town with my friends on a sunny Sunday during my holidays and returned to the shop on Monday to get it! I bought it without even trying. It was 15 years ago and I still have it. It is still one of my favourites. 

I love jewelry stores. I love them even more now that they are online. They have become much friendlier to jewelry-crazy girls like me during their move to a URL.