Woodlands Business of the Week is Robichau's Jewelry

Robichau's Jewelry has been named as The Woodlands Business of the Week.

Robichau's Jewelry, located in the Panther Creek Shopping Center at 4775 W. Panther Creek Drive, Suite 245, has been doing business in The Woodlands for 25 years. Jack Robichau founded the business with just 12 items in 1986. We asked his son John Robichau to tell us a little bit about the business and what makes The Woodlands distinctive.

What would you say makes your business different from other jewelers in the area?

Probably our focus on customer service. Most of our repairs are done within a few days. We also are known for our custom designs.

What one product do you think best represents your business?

Probably the custom designs. Everybody here is pretty creative and can come up with one-of-a-kind pieces. Most [jewelers], I feel, have the same jewelry that everybody else does.

How do you feel your business has changed over time? Where are you headed next?

The biggest change over time has been technology. Before, with custom designs, we would have a master jeweler who would come up with the design and would carve the wax by hand. We'd give him a design and two weeks later we'd pick it up. Now we design on a CAD system; I could have a wax model designed and cut out in an hour or an hour and a half, and the whole piece can be done within a week rather than two or three months.

After 25 years of doing business in The Woodlands, how would you describe the community here?

The community is very family-oriented. It's kind of like its own little bubble in that there are a lot of people who actually live here, work here and want to spend their money with local retail businesses. It's good for us.

In what other ways does being located in The Woodlands affect your business?

I think it is really beneficial to be in The Woodlands because if you give people here good customer service, not just custom design but finding something in stock or a repair or something like that, they're going to tell their friends. That's the best form of advertising you can get. Even though there are more than 90,000 people here, it's like a small town, and word travels fast.