KAPA‘A — Right after only two many years in business, Kilauea High-quality Jewellery is bringing its diamonds, gems and pearls to Kapa‘a City as it opens up a second area on Kaua‘i’s east side.
Jewellery is not new to mom and daughter co-entrepreneurs Karen Friend and Tiffany Freepartner, nor co-owner Nicky Boyer. Pal and Freepartner have been in the small business given that Freepartner was a baby, and the two initial satisfied Boyer following they started doing work together less than a further jeweler on Kaua‘i.
This problem would not previous permanently, nonetheless, as the jeweler went out of enterprise soon after extra than a ten years of services, leaving the trio looking for new perform.
At the similar time, Friend and Freepartner been given term that new storefront place was opening up in Kilauea. Quickly, they experienced a strategy.
“We’ve often talked about accomplishing our very own factor,” Freepartner said. “And when we heard about ‘Ahuimanu Searching Centre currently being built, we just believed, ‘Wow there is not a great deal of jewelers on island, in particular on the North Shore.’ And I considered it would be a seriously good location — we like the vibe of Kilauea, it has a wonderful blend of inhabitants and site visitors. Which is how the idea experienced began.”
Boyer — who had discovered get the job done in other places — instructed the two that it wasn’t the right time for her choose on these types of a significant business venture, so the mom and daughter duo went it on your own, securing a storefront at ‘Ahuimanu in 2019.
However for them, their prepared opening date was in March of 2020, proper as the COVID-19 pandemic was commencing to consider maintain.
“Because we had currently invested all of our dollars and taken out company financial loans and acquired all the jewelry — you know, received all the things completely ready — the COVID strike sort of put us in a location exactly where we weren’t sure if we ended up even now heading to be ready to transfer forward with opening the retailer,” Freepartner said.
To steer clear of getting rid of almost everything they experienced just built just before the keep even opened, the two made 1 last attempt at engaging Boyer into becoming a member of the business.
“We re-approached Nicky at that stage, for the reason that she was no for a longer time functioning wherever she had been at mainly because of COVID,” Freepartner reported. “She was like, ‘You know what? I would appreciate to be your partner — the timing is fantastic for me now.’ She considered in the enterprise strategy and is passionate about the industry, and so she variety of saved us.”
Kilauea Fantastic Jewelry ultimately opened its doors on June 1, 2021, and has been rolling at any time considering the fact that — selling rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets for North Shore patrons.
Since its founding, each individual co-proprietor has identified their personal strengths in the business enterprise, enabling the trio to operate each individual component of operations effortlessly.
“I do a lot more of the jewelry style and design and the marketing and advertising,” she reported. “Nicky seriously oversees our distributors, our textbooks our workplace administration — bookkeeping and all that. And then Karen is definitely our direct sales. She’s the sales rock star … So the a few of us together, it’s type of like a great workforce.”
Even though each individual co-proprietor has their individual specialized niche, there’s 1 thing that they all share in common — motherhood. Freepartner told The Back garden Island that shared bond has pushed their work due to the fact the commencing.
“My hope and aim is for them to see mommy executing something she enjoys, anything that I’m passionate about,” she explained.
“I know that will make an effect on them as they expand up and they choose career paths — like, ‘Well, I want to do anything that I adore, like my mommy does, and not just settle for any random position mainly because I want a work.’ I want them to really go just after their objectives and be passionate about it, and enjoy what they do.”
With only about two several years of business enterprise hence much, the Kilauea Fantastic Jewelry’s homeowners had planned on limiting their enterprise to just 1 storefront for a minor while lengthier to better establish their brand name.
Nonetheless, when they found this calendar year that longtime jeweler Jim Saylor was retiring, the trio right away jumped at the possibility to lease his Aged Kapa‘a City storefront.
“We kind of understood we experienced to,” Freeperson stated. “It could not have been the perfect timing in our timeline, but it was an possibility that we felt was worthy of having the leap and likely for it. It happened swiftly, since Jim required to retire speedily, and so we definitely, actually promptly worked it out and negotiated the phrases, and we’ve been likely complete-velocity ever considering the fact that.”
Kilauea High-quality Jewelry’s Kapa‘a locale first opened its doorways on Sept. 1, and to celebrate, the entrepreneurs have planned an totally free Oct. 14 celebration.
Open to the community, the occasion will consist of food items, drinks, and even a raffle for a single of the store’s pearl strand necklaces.
“People get to enter the raffle for the pearl necklace just for coming to check out and celebrate with us,” Freeperson said. “(Anybody can) just have a excellent time and see what we’re all about if they have not currently visited us. It is just a time to rejoice.”
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Jackson Healy, reporter, can be achieved at 808-647-4966 or [email protected].