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DULUTH — Genereau & Company jewelry store celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in downtown Duluth on Friday.
Located at 231 E. Superior St. on the main floor of the Greysolon Plaza, Genereau & Company is a designer jewelry salon and authorized seller for top jewelry and timepiece brands. It offers bridal lines, diamond lines, watches, fashion gold jewelry and diamond earrings, as well as ruby, emerald and sapphire pieces.
Hours are Tuesdays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The full-service custom shop employs nine people, including two goldsmiths and a watchmaker who create, restore and repair items.
“We do custom jewelry repair — from restoring an antique ring that you’ve been given by family, all the way up to getting something brand-new that’s from your imagination and means something special,” co-owner John Panchyshyn said.
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Co-owners Andrew Genereau, Kyle Genereau and Panchyshyn have a combined 65 years of experience in the industry.
All three come from Duluth’s Security Jewelers, where the Genereau brothers were part-owners from November 2018 until January 2024. Kyle Genereau also previously served as general manager at Security; Andrew Genereau was a sales associate, and Panchyshyn was a goldsmith while employed there.
When Security gleaned toward a corporate model and the South Dakota-based Riddle’s group bought out the Genereau brothers’ portion of the business earlier this year, the three men formed a partnership to begin their venture with a shared vision centered on the local community.
According to Kyle Genereau, a percentage of sales will be returned to the local community in the form of donations.
“The economic impact is far greater when you’re locally owned and operated; money circulates better within the community,” said Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Baumgartner during Friday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Within close proximity to the new jewelry store are the Sheraton Duluth Hotel, 301 Restaurant, Duluth Trading Company, Zeitgeist and Blackwater. There is a new dentist’s office across the street, and luxury condos are being built across the street.
“We wanted to be a part of all this action going on,” said Kyle Genereau.
The jewelry story has a 10-year lease of the space within Greysolon Plaza, which the owners describe as the missing puzzle piece to transforming its corner into a downtown wedding destination.
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“A Midwest matrimony hotspot, if you will,” Panchyshyn said.
In addition to the jewelry shop, the Greysolon Plaza is home to event venues such as the Greysolon Ballroom by Blackwoods, which includes the Moorish Room and The Ballroom. It also hosts upper-level apartments.
Kyle Genereau said the brothers have dreamed of starting a jewelry store for nearly two decades.
“We have a bottle of booze in the back and there’s a big story behind it that Andrew said, ‘We’re not going to crack this bottle until we open our store.’ And you brought it today. We couldn’t be happier,” Kyle Genereau said.
Over the course of four months, the space was built out by Andrew Genereau’s construction company. Most of the work was cosmetic, in addition to removing a few sinks left from its previous tenant, a diner called Lark o’ the Lake Cafe that closed during the pandemic.
The overall 2,200-square-foot space was completed in May.
The shop’s interior was inspired by “a little bit of East Coast glam,” as Panchyshyn described. The store was designed by Diane’s Designs.
“The Greysolon Plaza building is 100 years old next year, so we wanted to fit in a building that looks like this. A 1920s art deco design is what we tried to go for,” Andrew Genereau said.
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Golden accents and elegant chandeliers add a pop of color against its black walls throughout. The showroom hosts several displays of fine jewelry and watches, leading into a new lounge area with a fireplace and sofa.
“We’ll bring a customer back if they want a little bit of privacy or have more detailed questions,” Andrew Genereau said. “We can just sit down, show them the watches or the jewelry. You can be comfortable and relaxed, and just really be at ease.”
In his 30 years of experience, Andrew Genereau said he has adopted a low-pressure sales approach with customers.
While Security Jewelers had first employed Andrew Genereau in 1997, he was hired by the former Gordon Jewelers (now Zales) prior while attending St. John’s College. Kyle Genereau followed in his older brother’s footsteps by also joining the Security team during college.
“Joyce Rutherford, who became my mentor in this business, said, ‘You gotta have a nice personality, and you need to be honest,’” Andrew Genereau said. “‘I can be honest,’ I said, but I don’t know about the personality.’ And I worked for Joyce for a number of years.”
Panchyshyn began his career in jewelry with Jewelfire International and then accepted a position with a national jewelry chain with headquarters in Denver, where he further expanded his knowledge in jewelry design before his time at Security.
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