House of Jewels in Pacific Beach is a family affair with master jewelers Sofia, Leonid, and Alex Shpigel crafting personalized items for clients.
Located at 1772-B Garnet Ave. in the Pacific Plaza Shopping Center and Mall, the jewelry store is in a retail space that once was Baltimore Bagels. The Shpigels create and repair jewelry in PB working with diamonds and other precious stones. They also do a lot of watch repairs.
Originally from Russia, Leonid was an engineer by trade and Sofia was a musician and piano instructor. He studied under a jeweler there before the family immigrated to the United States in 1979.
After coming to the States, Leonid got a job with a jeweler in downtown San Diego, after which he worked for a time in La Jolla. Sofia noted Baltimore was bought by Einstein, and the company relocated vacating the Pacific Plaza mall space.
“In 1991, Leonid came here and opened up this store with one salesperson,” said Sofia, who was still teaching at USD at that time. “Eventually, I partially retired and then we collaborated starting about 15 years ago.”
“She is in the front and I’m in the back,” noted Leonid of their division of labor.
Leonid is a designer who creates his jewelry pieces. He also does a lot of jewelry repair work, which Sofia noted is about “75% of their business.” Sofia explained the process involved.
“They (customer) will come into us and they bring a single center stone and a whole bunch of little stones,” she said. “And they’ll say, ‘I would like a pendant custom made.’”
Sofia said they would then “draw what can be done. Then we have someone who does wax impressions (like a dentist).”
“The wax is used to make a negative, then the gold gets poured in and the wax gets melted and you have a rough copy,” pointed out son Alex.
“He puts in the wax the stones so the customer can see, after the wax is cast, how it’s going to look at the end,” said Sofia noting a typical job is one they did recently repairing an earring brought in that was missing a post that had broke.
Leonid pointed out that customers choose them because of their experience and because they do custom work. “If you buy something on the Internet they will sell you only a size 8,” he said adding, “If they need a size 6, they need to come to me.”
Sofia said it’s a matter of family pride that clients prefer them because they know they’ll get what they ask for when they come through their door. “Family is extremely important to us,” she said. “Our clients become like our family. And they would never go anywhere else. There is a payback from us to them.”
HOUSE OF JEWELS
Where: 1772-B Garnet Ave.
Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sundays and Mondays closed.
Contact: 858-490-8097.
