Kris Cornwell spent her days on Court Street long before it was lined with a bevy of bars and chain restaurants. As the owner of Cornwell Jewelers, 77 N. Court St., Cornwell recalls catching a bus with her sister and riding from her grandparents\u2019 home on Peach Ridge Road, north of Athens, to Court Street, where they\u2019d wander from shop to shop.<\/p>\n
Kris fondly recalls spending time in that narrow, worn space, in the same building where Cornwell Jewelers had existed since 1832, and playing with costume jewelry her grandfather had taken in on trade.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s much more about the jewelry now. Since purchasing the business from her parents in the early 2000s, Kris has transformed the store to meet the needs of modern shoppers. As a result, a long-standing piece of Athens\u2019 history, Cornwell Jewelers, is rolling into the future with its sixth-generation \u2014 and first female \u2014 owner at the helm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went in pretty naive, but it\u2019s been a journey and I\u2019ve learned so much,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I started, I knew zero about business, zero about gemology, all of it \u2014 marketing, finances. I mean, I was an education major in English, and I could write a lesson plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
While tackling that learning curve, she had to deal with other obstacles: Customers and industry colleagues often assumed her male employees were calling the shots, and she wasn\u2019t always taken seriously.<\/p>\n
Now, after 25 years in the game, she\u2019s established herself and picked up the knowledge needed to push the business forward.<\/p>\n
The Cornwell family had been selling jewelry to Athens residents for more than 100 years before that purple Cadillac ever rolled off the line.<\/p>\n
John Cornwell opened a jewelry shop on the second floor of 10 S. Court St. in 1832. At that time, Robert G. Wilson \u2014 the namesake of OU\u2019s Wilson Hall \u2014 was serving as the school\u2019s president, and the Civil War wouldn\u2019t break out for another 40 years.<\/p>\n
Unlike the gemstones sold at the store, it\u2019s difficult to say what Cornwell Jewelers will look like in 10, 20 or 30 years.<\/p>\n
Kris depends on her willingness to change in managing the store, and trends in jewelry could push Cornwell Jewelers to continue changing. A 2014 report from management consultants McKinsey and Company predicts the share of fine jewelry sales happening online could double to 10 percent of total sales by 2020, and Kris knows the nature of shopping \u2014 and Court Street \u2014 is changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of our customers now, we\u2019re a destination store,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t work on Court Street like they used to, so to see us, they drive to us. So there could be a time when they don\u2019t want to come to Court Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know. But to me, when I\u2019m dead and gone, I think the store will still be there.\u201d – Eric Coon, who worked in Cornwell Jewelers for more than 40 years. \u201cWhen you get engaged, do you want to say to your wife, \u2018I bought my ring on Amazon\u2019 or \u2018I bought it online?\u2019 \u201d Coon said. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s nice to come in (to the store). They find out about your history, where you\u2019re going. And a lot of jewelry has been sold that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
What exactly will happen when Kris retires is unclear. She\u2019s said she hopes one of her daughters will take the reins, but with her oldest is still in high school, it\u2019s much too early to tell.<\/p>\n