Lesile Haddow (left) and Kathy Provost opened Chestnut Hill Jewelers on Germantown Avenue last week. (Photo by Pete Mazzaccaro)

by Pete Mazzaccaro

Chestnut Hill has a new jewelry store: Chestnut Hill Jewelers.

The shop, at 8138 Germantown Ave, is the product of duo Leslie Haddow and Kathy Provost, two lifetime jewelers with ties to the area. Haddow is a Hill native who went went to Springside School. Both recently worked for Randolph's jewelers, which closed in September. Both women have careers in jewelry that go back a lot further.

Haddow began working in jewelry right out of college. An art major at Middlebury College, she designed jewelry for several different jewelers before landing a 10-year spot at Cooke and Berlinger Fine Jewelry in Haverford Square.

Provost was a buyer for a wholesale jeweler on Sansom Street in Center City for 20 years. She ran the company's catalog and even began beading and stringing, making her own necklaces and more.

The shop has a tastefully decorated counter area and a pair of leather chairs on a recently polished hardwood floor might be the kind of place you'd find in Manhattan.

Both women say the store grew out of a shared vision for a jewelry shop in Chestnut Hill – one that has a range of stock from affordable to high end and bridal to estate pieces. There's something for everyone. Much of the stock is designed and made locally.

“We love the business,” Haddow said. “We enjoy jewelry and we enjoy helping people.”

The shop will also repair and engrave anything. They'll do custom designs and plan on having classes in jewelry-making in the near future.

“A lot of people have worked with us in the past and know if they have a special need we can get it for them or find it for them.” Haddow said of her and Provost's decision to launch the shop.

Haddow said the local connection to Chestnut Hill is a selling point.

“I know almost everyone who comes in here,” she said. “I think our customers like that connection. Customers know and trust us. They rely on that.”

Those connections helped get the store launched quickly.

“We had about two months to get everything together to find a space,” Haddow said.. We got the space and display and cabinets and everything together.”

“You know, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be,” said Provost.

Both said landlord Bowman Properties was instrumental in helping get the space looking good quickly.

“They did a wonderful job,” Provost said.

Chestnut Hill Jewelers is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sundays from 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. For more information, visit chjewelers.com or call 215-248-2014.

Through December, the shop will have a trunk show by a local artist every Wednesday as part of Chestnut Hill's “Stag and Doe” nights, during which Avenue businesses stay open late for holiday shopping. Melissa Schulz will be featured on Dec. 3; Amy Ragsdale on Dec. 10, and Sue Rifkin and Emily Keifer on Dec. 17.