James Avery Artisan Jewelry — Local services in San Antonio

I shop at James Avery Artisan Jewelry for my wife at least twice a year, and the location in San Antonio at The Quarry Village is always top notch. She circles items in their mail-outs, so I always know what she will appreciate. I even left hints for her for a couple of rings. Today, which was my second visit in a week, was very busy with last minute Christmas shoppers. Because of the difficulty with COVID the last two years, there seemed to be a few less sales associates in the store than in pre-COVID years. The line was so long before noon, I turned around and had lunch at Stone Werks before returning to a less busy store .....and, they still had the earrings I wanted.

Most people who are interested in James Avery already know their many lines of silver, gold and enamel jewelry, so I won't spend much time describing. Just to note that new charms are very popular this year: Two weeks ago, I was told a particular charm was completely sold out at all local stores and would be available in four to eight weeks. I pre-ordered the charm, and happily, it arrived two weeks before Christmas. I've also shopped at the James Avery at Brooks City Base in southeast San Antonio. The associates at that location were also very professional, and if they did not have what I wanted, they called The Quarry Village store to hold one for me.

James Avery graciously offers a discount to active and retired military service members as well. I realized this only 3 years ago; I could have saved a lot of money over many years.

But do not make the mistake of calling the store, "Avery Johnson," like I did with a friend today. It's not a basketball store!

Mother's Day is on the way. But my wife's birthday is closer. Good place to find artsy gold rings.

Update: 2/11/2034. The Quarry location was out of a particular 30" chain, but an associate called to hold one at the City Base location on Southeast Military. Always...

Worst experience ever!

Previously I had gone to a location on city base. The girl who helped us there was super nice and even put an item on hold for me. When I drove to the location above I was helped by Alba. She was super nice and super helpful. She helped us purchase our items and let us know when to go back and pick them up.

However, when I went to pick up my bracelet I was rudely ignored for 15 minutes. I walked inside and approached their pick up counter. When my sister and I arrived the store only had one client, and an associate was helping them. I approached their pickup counter, where Monica/Jessica (name tag said Jessica but she was addressed as Monica) was standing. Including her, there were 3 other employees available. I waited for about 2 minutes. At this point a group of girls came in and Monica made eye contact with me and asked if she could help them. Other customers started to arrive after this.

An employee named Mike asked “Monica” who was there first and she ignored us again and told him others had arrived first, which wasn’t the case. We were ignored for 15 minutes when we had purchased charms earlier and were only there to pick them up. I was never told I should be in the regular line, and if this was the case I would’ve understood, but what is the purpose of a separate pickup line then? Thankfully, at the 15 minute mark Alba came back...

Disappointed. An older woman Sonia helped me at the time. I had went for a cleaning of all the jewelry I owned JA which was quite a bit. I had one bracelet needing repair. I had been putting this off for such a long time. Well I finally decided to take everything I owned in together. Well this older woman forgot to place the item on receipt for repair that I had failed to notice because like I said I had so much at once. I didn’t see an issue at the time and felt like it would’ve been okay because it was just a cleaning and one repair. Little did I know I was wrong. I received all my jewelry back except the one bracelet needing repair but since Sonia forgot to list it on the receipt they called me crazy pretty much and did nothing about it. No overlooking the cameras. Nothing. Such a sad and disappointing experience. I will no longer go to this location or take my jewelry all at once. The amount of effort was little...