Back in Town
Put a ring on it: Revamped Bailey Banks & Biddle highlights custom designedjewelry
Two years after shuttering stores across the country, Bailey Banks & Biddle is set for a comeback. Just in time for holiday shopping, the jewelry store chain is merging bricks-and-mortar knowhow with an extensive online presence, allowing shoppers to buy and design jewelry in a store or from the comfort of their own home.
The first Houston location of the new Bailey Banks & Biddle is in Town & Country Village. Other stores are in Austin, Dallas, Philadelphia and St. Louis. The company plans to open another five to 10 stores next year and expects to have 50 stores by 2015.
Sensing a need for changes in jewelry retail, the Dallas-based BBB Group, Inc. made over Bailey Banks & Biddle to reflect growing consumer reliance on the Internet. The Bailey’s Design Studio gives shoppers the opportunity to create their own jewelry and is focused on keeping prices low. To do that, diamonds won’t be purchased for a piece of jewelry until ordered by a shopper. The company avoids financing costs that way and hopes shoppers will be content trying on silver and cubic zirconia samples until their real deal pieces are ready.
The Bailey Banks & Biddle website is up, but the Design Studio is still under construction, so shoppers interested in custom designing jewelry can go to the store and create away on an iPad or a 55 inch flat screen monitor.
The chain also carries finished earrings, rings, necklaces and wedding rings as well as collections by Bixby, Lorenzo, Twilight Diamond, Perfect Twogether and Three-Stone.
