A nearly 100 year-old Downtown Smithfield building is being transformed into a new location for a popular family-owned jewelry store. For the past two years, Daniel and Vickie Evans have been remodeling a 3,200 square foot building at 320 East Market Street as the new location of Evans Jewelers. Their hard work and dedication to preserve the original architecture is paying off. The Evans plan to hold a Grand Opening on Friday, September 18th with a ribbon cutting at 5:00pm followed by an open house.
The Evans family has been in the jewelry business 40 years, and have been at their present location on South Third Street for the past 16 years. The new location will feature a larger 2,800 square foot retail space with an “industrial urban feel.” The store will feature existing wood and brick with a blend of modern architecture. The original interior brick wall from the 1920’s consists of seven different styles of brick used to originally construct the building. “They used what they could find at the time,” Daniel said. The original ceiling trusses were discarded by the railroad, so the builder used them in construction of the store. There’s also lots of copper and a penny bar, whose surface is covered with real pennies. Daniel isn’t saying how many pennies it took to cover the bar counter, promising he’ll hold a contest after opening and give away a prize to the person who can guess the exact number.
During the Grand Opening, Evans Jewelers will unveil “new and exciting jewelry lines, as well as our new watch line,” Daniel said. Plus a revamped and expanded giftware department.
Evans Jewelers will offer a bridal registry with quality items. “There has long been a need in our community for a store that carries quality, fine china and giftware. We hope that our new bridal registry and giftware department will fill in that gap,” Daniel said.
There will be a humidor room with hand rolled EJ (Evans Jewelers) blend cigars. During the Sept. 18th grand opening event they will have a person from the Dominican Republic hand-rolling cigars. The store, with attention to detail, will feature at a later date a wine shop with hand selected wines with special wine tasting events.
The Evans family looks forward to seeing many friends and customers at their new location next month. Daniel Evans wants the public to know that the new Evans Jewelers is “more than a jewelry store…it’s a destination with a whole lot more to come.”
WTSB Photos.
