Sullivan’s Jewelers Comes To Town

By Kaaren Valenta

Sullivan’s Jewelers has opened at 6 Queen Street in the Big Y shopping plaza, providing Newtown with its first full-service jewelry store in many years.

John R. Sullivan, a graduate gemologist and member of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and his sister, Nancy E. Sullivan, currently a GIA gemology student, are the owners of three Sullivan’s Jewelry stores. The Middlebury natives opened their first location in their hometown in 1987. Ten years later they opened a store in Woodbury, and two years after that, a third location in Prospect. A few weeks ago, they moved their Woodbury store to Newtown.

“Newtown is the fastest-growing city in the state,” Ms Sullivan said, explaining why she and her brother selected Newtown as their new location.

 “Many customers in the Woodbury store were from Newtown,” she said. “There wasn’t a jeweler in Newtown, and we really liked the mix of stores in the Big Y plaza. The plaza is great for the town because it really provides one-stop shopping. You can do everything here.”

The Sullivan name has been well known for many decades in the greater Waterbury area. Joseph F. Sullivan, their father, owned Sullivan’s Clothing in Waterbury when the city was in its heyday. Mr Sullivan, who died at the age of 87 a year and a half ago, was president of the Waterbury Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau of Waterbury, and chairman of the Tennis Committee at the Waterbury Country Club for many years.

“He worked for us for three years after we opened our first store,” Ms Sullivan said. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Both John R. and Nancy Sullivan attended Connecticut schools, John graduating with a degree in business and going into the retail jewelry industry. Nancy earned a master’s degree in finance and worked for several Fortune 500 companies before leaving the corporate world behind to work fulltime with her brother.

“It took every penny, and we borrowed even more to start, but we’ve never regretted it,” Nancy Sullivan said. “It has to be in your blood to want to give the time and effort that is required to provide quality service to your customer, because without them you would be nothing.”

Sullivan’s Jewelers in Newtown is a full-service store with a repair jeweler, Ally Shurally, on the premises.

“Many repairs can be done while you wait,” Ms Sullivan said. “He works with all kinds of metals: 14 and 18 karat white and yellow gold, platinum, sterling silver, as well as stone settings and remounts, and custom designs and pieces.”

Sullivan’s Jewelers also offers watch and clock repair, pearl restringing, engraving, appraisals, and silver restoration. It stocks all types of fine jewelry including loose diamonds and colored stones, engagement rings, wedding bands, watches, estate jewelry, Princesse add-a-pearls, diamond add-a-link bracelets and necklaces, children’s and infants’ jewelry, wedding gifts, and clocks from Bouleva, Seth Thomas, and Seiko.

“Especially popular now – and we specialize in – three-stone diamond and colored stone anniversary rings,” Ms Sullivan said. “The three stones represent the past, the present, and the future. We also specialize in other popular pieces: platinum jewelry, white and yellow gold bracelets, necklaces and earrings, many incorporating diamonds; bezel-set diamonds, pendants, necklaces and rings; black pearls and diamond anniversary bands with round, princess-cut, emerald-cut or baguette stones.”

“This year certain colored stones such as Tanzanite, pink sapphire, pink tourmaline, green and Ceylon sapphire are the hottest items and Sullivan’s can set them,” she said. “This allows you to choose the stones and have them mounted in any setting you desire.”

The Sullivans pride themselves on being extremely service oriented and the stores are known for their competitive prices.

“We welcome the opportunity to be the only fine jeweler for the Newtown community,” Nancy Sullivan said.

The hours at Sullivan Jewelers in the Queen Street plaza are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, from 9:30 am to 6 pm; Thursday, from 9:30 am to 7 pm; and Saturday, 9:30 am to 5 pm. The store is closed Sunday and Monday except during the month of December.  For additional information, call 364-1731.