Summerwind Jewelers & Goldsmiths — Local services in Portsmouth

What a special shop! My partner and I were in Portsmouth this weekend, celebrating our birthdays. Our wedding is a ways off for reasons outside our control, but we decided to peruse wedding bands for fun. Little did we know that we'd leave with the most perfect bands imaginable. From the moment we stepped into the shop, it just felt magical. We told Claudia (we think that's her name—we will be following up to make sure, since she's totally invited to our wedding) what we were searching for, and that we just wanted plain bands. She never once tried to upsell us on engagement jewelry or things we weren't there for, which was such a breath of fresh air (why does everyone want me to have a huge diamond?!). She led us to their tray of wedding bands for us to try on for size, which aren't actually gold or available for sale. We told her what we were each looking for—me, super dainty and gold or rose gold to go with my existing jewelry, and for my partner, likely white gold to go with his watch. Well, somehow, she mentions that she has a band that is "delicate and sweet", gold with the teensiest, tiniest diamonds in it that make an otherwise simple band remarkable. I literally could not imagine that this band existed, or that it would be so right. She took it out of the case, and the fit was 100% perfect. Not a minute later, she remembers she has one men's ring that is brushed white gold. Onto my partner's finger it went, also a perfect fit. What?! I think she was just as surprised as we were that these rings, right out of the case, were perfect for us. She said it had only happened to her once to her before. We recognize signs when we see them, and I said, "Can we just...take these home?" Yes, yes we could! She had her associate clean them for us and got us two beautiful boxes—but we slid them onto one another's fingers and wore them out of the store. I doubt I will feel any more married than I do right now with these perfect bands. We simply can't believe how wonderful they are, and how they are part of the magical layers of our story that always seem to turn out just right. Go visit Summerwind for your own little slice of magic! (On the more practical side, this shop is women-owned, has an amazing selection, a wonderful sales team, and extraordinarily fair prices—each of our bands was under $900, when we had been to other shops charging $1500+ for...

My husband and I decided to stop in and see what it would cost to get my wedding band sized up. I handed my ring over, they took a look and gave me a quote. They mentioned getting my ring rhodium plated to brighten up the white gold, and I agreed. The quote I received was $339. I thought that was a little high but do-able. They said they'd have the jeweler take a look and call me if it would be over the quote they gave me. Four days later I get a call telling me the head of my ring needed to be replaced, the prongs were worn. They said I needed the ring re-tipped, and I needed a new shank (which I knew would be necessary since I needed the ring sized up) but also that my enhancer was worn out and the setting for my 24 smalls diamond was worn. All of that along with the rhodium plating would be $1,325 (to do all of that work with just one shank) or $1,675 (with all of that but replacing with three shanks). That is more than quadruple my initial quote. I was expecting maybe $100 to $200 at the very most over quote. Not $1,000 to $1,300, over. It's pretty obvious they didn't want to do the work on my ring and way overpriced it so I'd go to someone else. Apparently my ring wasn't important or expensive enough for them to work on. Why not just tell me you didn't want to work on it?

I went to another jeweler in Portsmouth with amazing reviews and was appalled to hear I didn't need most of that work done. I will eventually need to, but it wasn't something that needed to be done right away. This new jeweler said they would give me a call if my ring would cost more than $100-$200. Now THAT is a reasonable price to pay for the work I wanted done.

I have had my wedding ring for 18 years and adore it. It means the world to me, and I find my ring worthy of repair. Summerwind apparently thought otherwise.

I do not recommend them. They are way overpriced and if they're overpricing things because they don't feel like doing the work, how would the customer even know that?

I'm so disappointed in my experience here and will obviously...

I knew almost instantaneously after meeting my wife, that I always wanted to share my life with her, but I decided very spontaneously to actually propose to her. This left me with precious little time to find just the right ring. I’m very thankful to have meet Lauren at Summerwinds, she was tremendously informative and helped guide me through a process that I admittedly lacked any knowledge. The outcome was fantastic! Not only did my wife agree to marry me, but I’m not exaggerating when I say nearly every day I notice her admiring her ring with a little smile. After all was said and done, I did the research I should have done in advance of buying an engagement ring, and I felt even better about the ring, because it turns out it was a really good value too. I feel really comfortable with Lauren and highly tecommend her if you’re looking for a...