Creating unique and special pieces of jewelry is a part of everyday business at Five Star Jewelry Brokers & Gemologists in Rollingwood, owner Mary Weber said. One day the staff may be resetting a ring for a 30-year wedding anniversary and the next day designing earrings for a couple’s wedding day, she said.
The business focuses on diamond and precious gem sales, appraisals and jewelry creation.
“We design [jewelry pieces] using computer-aided design and can email our customers [renderings of] eight different angles of the piece we created,” Weber said.
Weber is a 1994 graduate of the Gemological Institute of America. She said she specializes in appraising precious gems and diamonds and is also the only Austin-area Certified Senior Appraiser from the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers—a title she has held since 2001.
Associate Kelly Granger has worked with Five Star Jewelry for the past 10 years and is a graduate of the GIA.
“We have relationships with our customers outside of work, so it’s not just a sale,” Granger said. “We’ll be invited to their weddings or sent pictures of their babies. When I work with someone, I am thinking, ‘How can I make this customer a lifelong customer?’”
Weber said she has been successful with retaining customers over the past 20 years, including second-generation customers coming into the store.
“Parents that came in 20 years ago are coming back with their sons and daughters who are getting engaged,” Weber said. “We’ve always been on Bee Caves Road, but moved three times.”
Weber said the business first began at 3636 Bee Caves Road, West Lake Hills, then moved to 3300 Bee Caves Road, West Lake Hills, and is now at 2712 Bee Caves Road, Ste. 104, Austin. In celebration of the store’s 20 years in business, Weber said she is adding new built-in cases, chandeliers and a laboratory to the shop.
Weber said she has 16 laboratory instruments used to perform appraisals while people “wait and watch.”
“With the newly remodeled store, I have all these instruments at my fingertips,” she said. “They include a binocular microscope, electronic scale, electronic metals tester, proportion scope, dichroscope, refractometer and Chelsea filters. This will make it possible for folks to call and make an appointment for an appraisal of their jewelry, and we can schedule them within 24 hours.”
Although Five Star Jewelry has more than 800 styles of rings and bands, Weber said the staff is also able to broker diamonds.
“Our job is to educate the client and make them [feel] as comfortable as possible,” Granger said.
2712 Bee Caves Road, Ste. 104, Austin
512-306-8200
www.fivestarjewelrybrokers.com
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.,
Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., closed Sun.
