For Thomas Markle, the store’s founder and president, working with customers and an array of high-end gemstones has been a lifelong pursuit. He first became interested in jewelry culture in his teens before entering the sales and service side of the business.
“I fell in love with the idea of the romance of the jewelry industry,” Markle said. “I fell in love with the concept of that gift-giving of jewelry and the emotional connection you have with a person that you give jewelry to.”
Markle opened his original brick-and-mortar retail store in Kingwood in 1988. He expanded to Champions Forest in 2000 and launched The Woodlands store in 2009. Markle said his work has been based around customer service and offering the higher-end jewelry that first captured his attention.
“I found that that was what made me feel the best, because I was dealing with the best of the best in the jewelry business,” Markle said.
Markle’s product selection includes jewelry and accessories from designers such as Marco Bicego, Hearts on Fire, Lagos, Rolex and Clint Orms. The full-service showroom in The Woodlands also offers repairs, servicing and customization. He said he aims to make the store accessible to both inexperienced and more refined buyers as well.
“It’s about you as a customer first, and it’s about your desires and much less about what we have to say,” he said. “Having products that spanned a wide spectrum of needs that a younger couple would have, or a sophisticated buyer of 25 years would have, is what I like to accomplish.”
Aside from the gems and accessories encased within The Woodlands showroom, Markle said one of the most important pieces of his business is the local patronage he found essential as he built his brand through the store’s first decades across Greater Houston.
“That’s paramount ... Much more than, ‘How much are we taking from the community?’ [is] ‘How much are we giving the community?’” Markle said. “I welcome charities to come in and give us a chance to work with them.”
He also stressed the importance of keeping up the jeweler’s approach as a family business. Markle’s son Phil manages the Memorial location, and his daughter Sarah handles communications for the brand. Markle, a 10-year resident of The Woodlands, said his work with local charities and the emotional moments of jewelry sales are still the highlight and focus of the Thomas Markle Jewelers experience.
“That is the very foundation that got me excited about the business,” Markle said. “The idea of that gift that was bought from the heart, that was bought with love and care, and now given to that person that’s going to feel that same emotion. ... Our business is absolutely the happiest business on the planet, next to Disney.”
Thomas Markle Jewelers
9595 Six Pines Drive, Ste. 950, The Woodlands
281-363-2400
www.thomasmarklejewelers.com
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.,
Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m.
