It’s difficult to imagine downtown Greenville without Llyn Strong Fine Jewelry. For the last 34 years, Strong’s gallery has been a fixture on Main Street selling beautiful and unique jewelry, often designed by Strong herself or a member of her staff.
But we’ll have to get used to the idea of downtown without Llyn’s shop. Because they’ll be relocating to 1322 Washington St. near Laurens Road in January.
“I had planned that for a few years,” Strong says of the move. “Main Street’s changed, and I’ve changed, and I just think it’s going to be a better fit to be somewhere else. And I’m excited. We’re renovating the new space and will hopefully be reopened by the end of January.”
Strong says that she chose the Washington Street location because it’s easy to get to, and it fits her business better.
“It just seems to be a very accessible location from just about anywhere,” she says. “From 85, 385, downtown, and there’s parking right there,” she says. “And I do so much more custom now than anything, so we put a lot of thought into the new studio and showcasing the fact that we make most of what we sell.”
Custom work, making specific pieces for specific clients, has long been a passion of Strong’s.
“I’ve always made my own jewelry,” she says. “I do mostly one-of-a-kind inventory for my stock, and I love sitting down with a customer and learning more about them so I can custom design something for them. I try to listen to them and find out a little bit more about them and their tastes and styles and how they wear jewelry and what they’re looking for. So that’s kind of what I’m going to focus on more.”
Strong adds that the smaller space on Washington Street suits her because she’s realized that she has a smaller customer base. And she’s just fine with that.
“My work isn’t for everybody,” she says. “It’s more artistic. It’s mostly one-of-a-kind pieces. I used to think I could sell to everybody, but I did learn over time that I have a smaller piece of the pie, and that’s okay.”
If that sounds like more of an artistic approach than a business-minded one, well, Strong is happy to plead guilty to that charge.
And Strong adds that she’s got a staff that feels the same way.
“I come from an art background,” she says, “and everybody that works here has an art background. So we approach it a little differently than just people with a business background. I don’t need ‘salespeople.’ Three people work for me on lines of jewelry, which we sell in the store. So that’s kind of fun to see how everybody approaches it a little bit differently as a designer. And if they love what they do, then it’s easy to sell that.”
And Strong says that the new Washington Street location is the perfect place for her and her staff to do what they love.
“We’re working on the new space,” she says, “measuring every piece of equipment and every workstation to make it as optimal as possible for our customers and for us working here. I’m very excited about that.”
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