Local jewelry shop set to expand, keeping pace with demand for custom creations

John Thomas Mead didn’t know hardly anything about the jewelry business when a friend asked him to help out at their short-staffed jewelry store several years ago.

But answering some phone calls one day led to a weekend shift that led to another weekend shift that led to a full-time job — and eventually a career.

“I was doing that until I figured out what I wanted to do, and it turned out, this is what I wanted to do,” Mead said.

Mead launched his own shop, John Thomas Jewelers, alongside his wife, Janelle Mead, in 2013. After years of growth, the shop — currently situated at 2440 Louisiana NE — is entering a new chapter as it plans to relocate to a larger space along Montgomery Boulevard at the end of March.

“We’ve just outgrown the shop,” Mead said of his current roughly 2,600-square-foot space.

The new space, situated between Dion’s and El Patron on the second floor of a building at 10501 Montgomery NE, comes with more than 4,000 square feet — doubling the size of the jeweler’s showroom and tripling the size of its design studio.

The store will feature a dedicated bridal bar, private diamond viewing area, custom showcases, a glass-enclosed repair and custom design lab, and an expanded lineup of products, including a curated collection of pre-owned Rolex watches and luxury handbags.

The custom shop design will allow customers to watch the jewelry creation process up close, from the initial digital concept of a piece to the store’s employees crafting it by hand.

“This new showroom represents the future of jewelry retail in Albuquerque,” Mead said. “By … making our design and repair process fully visible, we’re redefining what a jewelry process should feel like.”

The new store, with the help of a growing team of employees, will enable the business to meet trending demand for custom jewelry, Mead said. While the average retail jeweler receives and completes about 20 to 30 custom jobs per year, John Thomas Jewelers did 462 custom jobs last year, Mead said. Lately, he added, employees at the current shop space can hardly open drawers on the sales floor because the space is too packed.

Mead said the growth is “a direct result of the trust Albuquerque has placed in us,” as well as more people seeking custom jewelry pieces post-COVID.

“During COVID, people had an enormous amount of time on their hands — sat home, played around, learned Canva and learned all kinds of design tools,” Mead said. “So people walking in and picking something out of a showcase is really not happening very much anymore. Most people come in with an idea and want something different — and we’re able to deliver that.”

The shop has collaborated with customers to create rings featuring everything from frogs to a panda bear hugging a diamond and an octopus holding a pearl.

“There really is no limit to what we can make; it’s up to the customer’s imagination,” Mead said.

The new shop space was renovated over the course of the last four months — a project into which Mead and his wife have invested more than half a million dollars. The pair also own a Harris Jeweler store in Rio Rancho and recently sold a Fast-Fix Jewelry & Watch Repair they owned at Coronado Center.

The rate at which John Thomas Jewelers is growing prompted the pair to narrow their focus on that venture, which Mead believes will offer a shopping experience rare for jewelry stores in New Mexico.

“We’re really excited about what this is going to enable us to do for clients when they come in,” Mead said.

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.