Mansour Jewelers — Local services in City of Ithaca

TL;DR: Mansour Jewelers are excellent to work with.  Michael and Matt are fair, talented, resourceful, and dedicated to ensuring you are happy with your purchase. 10/10 would recommend.

When the time came to buy an engagement ring, I did some research on jewelers in the Central New York area and decided to visit Mansour after seeing photos of custom engagement rings on their website. Having done some research on diamonds on my own, I came into their shop armed with some knowledge of what to expect.  Located in the middle of the Ithaca Commons, they were easy to find.

Upon entering the shop, I was greeted by the proprietor Michael, who welcomed me in and led me to Mansour's beautiful display of engagement rings.   He then walked me through the various aspects I would need to consider when designing a ring, using the rings in the display as a starting point.  He talked me through the pros and cons of different metals and ring styles, and most importantly, things to consider when choosing a diamond.  He took the time to show example stones, allowing me to compare lab grown diamonds with diamonds mined naturally, stones of different color grades, clarity, cut, and carat weight.  He was not pushy and worked to help me decide what would be the best choice for my budget.  After nearly two hours, we'd narrowed down to a single ring style and three possible diamonds.  Michael ordered the diamonds for review and sent the design requirements to Matt, the goldsmith, to create a design mockup.

Over the next two weeks, I communicated with Michael to ensure the ring was going to meet both my expectations and those of my future fiancée.  I met with him again and chose the main diamond for the ring, and narrowed down the design further.  After the initial mockup was created, Michael preemptively reached out to me for feedback, and we agreed to make some revisions.  The final design was a beautiful ring that not only worked with my budget and wowed my now-fiancee, but also was ready a week early!  And even more importantly, I didn't have to spend a single dime until the ring was 100% ready and received my stamp of approval.  That was despite Mike and Matt spending hours of their time working to educate me and design the ring!

In short, these guys are talented and great to work with.  You won't be...

Around the holidays I was looking for a gift that would help me "win Christmas." I know that normal people do not go around thinking about winning a holiday, but that's just how I'm wired. I also happen to be married to a woman who is obnoxiously thoughtful and excellent at giving gifts. In the decade we've been together I estimate I have only won Christmas once. It was with a locket featuring pictures of our children and it was my plan to go back to that same well.

I wanted an upgraded experience for my love so I went to Mansour Jewelers with the hope of purchasing another, nicer, locket to add updated photos to. The store's owner, Michael, took the time to go through all of my option in my price range (which wasn't crazy), all the while, listening to the type of impact I was hoping the gift would make. Michael then called an audible, making a suggestion of a completely different type of pendant that would feature the engraved thumbprints of my two young children in the center of it. He was literally adding more work for himself because he knew it would make for a better gift for my wife. I brought my kids into the store (a 7 and high energy 4-year-old) where Michael and his staff patiently fingerprinted my kids, had them form their two thumbprints into the shape of a heart, and had it ready by Christmas (this was all done 15 days out from the big day)! Michael's idea was so wonderful and unique that I had them make two so my Father-in-Law could gift the other pendant to the kids' grandmother.

TL;DR - I went from no gift to a Christmas winning, one of kind, jewelry piece that was created with a level of thoughtfulness that is not generally found anymore in a world where almost anything is available with a web search, a credit card, and a few clicks of a button. ETSY is great, but if you want to find a truly unique gift of jewelry that will make the recipient feel like you tried to go above and beyond, I can not recommend the team at Mansour Jewelers...

I have been going to Mansour Jewelers for battery replacement for my watch for many years, always liked their expertise, professionalism and the quick turn around time, during one of such visit, I got chatting with Michael regarding engagement ring options they have, which I’m really glad I did, because not only were they able to find the perfect diamond I wanted (same exact grade as what I have quoted from Tiffany.co), they also gave me the chance to personalized design my engagement ring, which was a super plus for me, because unlike those big name Jewelers where all the rings are pretty much identical, I would have the chance to create something of my own with their help. I ended up going for this option, found some ring designs online that has the elements I liked, then verbally described how I wanted the ring to look like, and what are some of the unique features i wanted on the ring which symbolizes things that means a lot to me and my loved one. Long story short, by the time the ring is ready for pick up, it was so pretty that is even beyond my expectations. I used that ring to propose to my girlfriend, and now we are engaged. I am thankful for the wonderful ring design, the craftsmanship that went into the ring, as well as the memorable experience that Mansour Jewelers offered me to creat my one of a kind engagement ring for the...