Exploring Life & Business with Candy Jewelers of Candy Jewelers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Candy Jewelers

Hi Candy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Ron and I (Paul) met during business school and became friends. We were both working corporate jobs at the time and during the pandemic we took the opportunity to explore creating something of our own. One thing led to another and we decided to open a small jewelry business. As most businesses do when first starting out, we had our tough times along with some small victories, and after a difficult beginning we realized we had to make a change or it was not going to succeed. An opportunity came up to move locations and we reinvented our business overnight, took the risk and moved to Los Angeles inside the Slauson Supermall. We rebranded and reimagined our vision and 3 years later we have grown our small dream from infancy to a growing thriving jewelry brand that is slowly starting to make a mark in the industry.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. Even with business degrees in our back pockets, experience, and resources, we have learned the hard way that starting a first business and creating a brand from scratch is no easy task. Too many hurdles along the way but to name a few finding a niche in a saturated jewelry market was always going to be a difficult task, working around limited financial resources, partner, personal, and family dynamics, the danger and risks of being in the jewelry industry, and everything associating with doing something neither of us had done before.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Candy Jewelers?
We are a Los Angeles based jewelry brand focusing on the styles and preferences of the surrounding community reflecting both LA and Urban style in our products. We seek to meet the needs and desires of our customers and while we carry a very wide variety of products we do specialize in Gold and Diamonds, Custom jewelry, and women’s jewelry. Our main customer demographic is Black and Latino and we are proud to be in the middle of the LA community serving our customers with the highest level of customer service and offering products that are not readily available. We are known for our Social Media presence now but we are proud of the fact that we grew that presence organically from scratch through a reputation for great service, unique and interesting products, and showcasing our authentic selves and LA style.
We want people to know that we have opened the doors of the historic Slauson to the rest of the world through our website and strive to be an accessible, dependable, authentic, and trustworthy jeweler to people all over the world and not just LA.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Ron and I took a major risk in starting this business. Personally I have not been a huge risk taker but also not a fearful risk averse person either. I am somewhere in the middle. Ron is a similar type in my opinion. Financially alone we had to both put in a lot of our own funds, make sacrifices, and dedicate valuable time to get the brand and business off the ground. With the support of our families we took the risk in hopes of making both of our lives better and more rewarding. Coming up with the startup funds was a big risk for us both. Not to mention in jewelry you have to buy inventory before selling it, before you have a customer so that is a risk in itself. There are personal safety risks as well. I have been followed, I have been robbed, and that is not a risk that diminishes over time so it’s always something to think about it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.candyjewelersla.com
• Instagram: @candyjewelers
• Other: Tik Tok: @CandyJewelersLA