Do you dream in color?
Because, starting Wednesday, Gemvara wants to know.
Just in time for the holidays, the online custom jewelry company will open the doors of its Newbury Street pop-up shop, which CEO Janet Holian calls "The Gemvara Experience." The brand new, brightly-colored brick-and-mortar will help the company play around with a physical presence on none other than Boston's best shopping strip, starting November 6th and lasting till February 15th.
The goals of the store are to get you to experience Gemvara in a way you've never experienced it before, and to get you to experience shopping for new bracelets, bangles and bling in a way you've never experienced a jewelry store before, according to Holian.
The Gemvara Experience will give customers the chance to slip on samples of various pieces, in all metals and gemstones, and take them for a test run. The store will also have a fleet of iPads available to let people play around with personalizing different items. For each purchase, buyers will receive a complementary gift of studded earrings in their choice of gemstone.
"The idea is that [The Gemvara Experience] is very interactive and non-salesy," said Holian. "We want people to leave the store knowing about Gemvara, but we want to be learning just as much about the customer."
Interestingly enough, the brightly-colored store will be manned entirely by the company's existing employees, from the financial planner to Holian herself.
The company also keeps a showroom, which stays open all year round, at its offices at 1 Financial Center. Depending on the showroom's success, Gemvara may open a similar spread in New York City, said Holian.
But, as the CEO admitted, "The Gemvara Experience is a much more impressive view of Gemvara...We're really testing our physical presence." The company is, of course, turning to the storefront models of men's clothing line Bonobos and vintage-inspired designer glasses company Warby Parker – both of which also have space close to Newbury – for inspiration.
"We're asking, 'What do we want our physical presence to be?'" explained Holian.
Check out The Gemvara Experience, located on Newbury Street in the block between Dartmouth Street and Clarendon Street, for yourself beginning this week.
