It’s been a busy few weeks at Clifton Rocks, with our big shop move in mid-October and our first day trading in the brand new jewellery shop on Saturday 18th.
Luckily, we only moved about 100m down the road, so this was one of Clifton Rocks owner Clare’s easier moves…
This is the third Clifton Rocks shop in Bristol – it all started on Queens Road 16 years ago, in a tiny shop just underneath the Queens Court flats, near the Triangle.
At first it was just Clare, and then jewellery designer Jane Kenney came in, and Sammy joined too. Our Queens Road shop was the perfect little step into retail and the jewellery industry.
Then Clifton Rocks moved to 31 The Mall – a lovely little shop in the heart of Clifton Village. And now, after just over a decade, we’ve moved again.
Each time we’ve moved, it’s been into slightly bigger premises. But hopefully this is it for us now.
Clare had been looking to upgrade for ages – the old shop was amazing, and made us really proud for 12 years, especially for such a small space.
If you ever went in, you’d know it was pretty tiny, but it was perfect for our second shop – it had a little shop space, plus a workshop area for one or two jewellers.
However, as the business started expanding, the workshop just became way too small for all of us. It’s a good job that all the jewellers and staff are very close and understanding, as there was a lot of bumping into each other on the daily!
It came to a point where we were literally falling over one another, so Clare decided to start looking for new, bigger premises for Clifton Rocks.
A shop space came up just down the road from the old shop, and we jumped at the chance. We love being in Bristol and Clifton Village specifically, so being able to stay in the same area was really great.
It was quite an eventful few weeks of signing leases, fitting out the shop, hauling the safe and big furniture over, as well as everything else, but it’s been really exciting too.
In the brand new Clifton Rocks we have a shop space, an office, and a workshop at the back, with lovely big windows letting in loads of natural light – which is all Clare has ever dreamed of.
The bigger, brighter workshop space was the main reason for our move, but having the bigger shop space is a really lovely bonus too.
At the front we’ve now got a proper shop frontage with some more big windows, and we commissioned local Clifton florists Belle de Jour (find them at 29b The Mall) to create a huge flower installation for us, which looks amazing and really brings the window display to life.
In the old shop, we only had a small window, and because of this a lot of people didn’t really know that we were a jewellers, or even that we were really there, despite the fact that we’d been in Clifton Village for over a decade.
We’ve actually had a few people come into the new shop and say, “welcome, where have you come from?” and we have to say, “literally over the road!”
Now that we’re further down The Mall, it feels like we’re deeper into the hub of the Clifton Village shops, rather than stuck at the end where we were before. There are more people walking past and noticing us, and popping in to see our jewellery.
Of course, there’s lots more space in the new shop – we have more display cabinets to show off our incredible designers’ jewellery, and we even have a consultation area too.
We used to hold our commission consultations while standing in the shop, trying to get out of everyone’s way, which was not ideal for anyone.
Now we have a lovely table and chairs to sit on, and although we do still quite like standing up for some of our bespoke jewellery consultations, we have got the option of a dedicated consultation space to sit down and discuss jewellery options and ideas.
Because of this, the customer experience has levelled up massively in the new shop. If you’d like to test it out for yourself, you can make a consultation appointment on our contact page.
The shop might be new, but a lot of our original team members (who are all jewellers too) are still here, so you’ll see the same familiar friendly faces when you visit us. Clifton Rocks is like a little family, which was always the ethos.
Finally, a big shout-out to Clare’s husband Craig, who has built pretty much all of the shop fittings himself. He’s done a grand job and really excelled himself – although he has also said that this has to be Clare’s last shop!
If you pop in to see us over the next few months, you’ll get to see this year’s winter exhibition, featuring 4 brilliant UK jewellery designers.
We have some really beautiful jewellery on display by Cat Hart, Karolina Baines, Jacks Turner, and Anny Ching-Chin Hsieh, who actually used to work for us – she left in the summer, but promised us a final collection of her new work.
We’re open Monday to Saturday 10-5 at 54 The Mall, and if you’re wedding planning (and actually, even if you’re not), in our blog 15 dreamy destinations for a perfect wedding planning day in Clifton Village we share some of our favourite local businesses to visit while you’re here.
If you’d like regular updates about the winter exhibition and everything else, follow @cliftonrocksjewellery on Instagram or sign up to our newsletter below.
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