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Family’s second jewelry store features a ‘men’s club’ zone dedicated to watches
By Matthew Hall
Michael LaViano, a third-generation master jeweler and Swiss-trained watchmaker, opened a jewelry shop in Westwood, N.J., in 1945. The business, now operated by the family’s second generation, has opened a second store, in Englewood, N.J.
To cater to the predominantly male watch-buying clientele that LaViano Jewlers had built up over the years, designers from GRID/3 Intl. Inc. (New York) created a “men’s club” environment at the back of the 2600-square-foot space. That zone includes cherry wood paneling and continuous glass showcases that facilitate detailed product examinations and comparison shopping.
The front of the store, where jewelry is displayed, features cream-colored walls accentuated with round, wood-framed mirrors. The idea, says GRID/3 principal Ruth Mellergaard, is to create an open, inviting space that shoppers of both sexes would feel comfortable in. Cherry wood, like that used to panel the watch zone walls, is integrated into the jewelry display cases, visually unifying the space.
The store’s exterior posed a distinct design challenge for a jewelry retailer: it has large windows that the owners worried would make it difficult to effectively display their small-sized goods. To overcome that dilemma, Mellergaard put the merchandise in freestanding cherry showcases that fit in the window cases and are lined with light maple wood.
Project Participants
Client
LaViano Jewelers, Englewood, N.J.
Jeffrey LaViano, Jack LaViano and Robert LaViano, co-owners
Design
GRID/3 Intl. Inc., New York: Ruth Mellergaard and Keith Kovar, principals; Errol Demagajes, associate
Outside Consultants
Charles Fertig, Staten Island, N.Y. (mechanical and electrical engineering)
Thornton Engineering, Westwood, N.J. (structural engineering)
General Contractor
RAD Construction Consultants, Livingston, N.J.
Ceilings
Armstrong Ceiling Systems, Lancaster, Pa.
Fixtures
Eagle Displays, New Kensington, Pa.
Flooring
Crossville Porcelain Tile, Crossville, Tenn.
Patcraft Carpet, Dalton, Ga.
Catco Marble & Granite, Port Reading, N.J.
Armstrong Flooring, Lancaster, Pa.
Lighting
Juno Lighting Group, Des Plaines, Ill.
Columbia Lighting, Spokane, Wash.
Wallcoverings
Koroseal Interior Products, Wilmington, Mass.
Sherwin Williams, Edison, N.J.
I’ll have to agree as much on the store design too. Typically jewelry display windows need more work and creativity in order to draw out the focus on these dainty artwork. Apart from the lighting's, there’s really nothing much they can do to accentuate the display shelves.
Barbara
Mykonos Pandora Jewelry
Thanks a lot for sharing the article on this topic.That’s a awesome article. I enjoyed the article a lot while reading. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful article.I want to say very thank you for this great informations. now i understand about it. Thank you !
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For me the design idea of the store to be like a Men's Club is a little bit alright but for what i have seen in the pictures is that the design still looks like any other jewelry store in which the jewelries are displayed at the front and the saleslady are inside the square style display of products. Gauthier, Houghtaling and Williams