Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Wallace Burke
Shannon Neil discusses a pearl necklace with a customer at Wallace-Burke.
From the parking lot of Wallace-Burke, business partners Preston Foy and David Hezlep can still see the sign from their old location. In early May, the SoHo jewelry and collectibles store made a short move across 29th Avenue South. While the physical distance was small, the benefits that come with the move are large.
Foy and Hezlep have owned Wallace-Burke for almost seven years and had been planning a move for nearly that long. When the Monty Stabler Gallery closed, the jewelers decided to buy its building. After three months of renovations, Wallace-Burke settled into its new home.
“This has been our original plan all along,” Foy said. “These are steps we’d always planned when we sat down on the living room sofa seven and a half years ago with a legal pad, mapping out a business plan.”
Wallace-Burke’s new location at 1811 29th Ave. S. solves two of its main problems: parking and visibility. There are 10 private parking spaces designated for the store’s customers, and Foy has heard about this from many happy customers. The new building also faces the street, unlike the old location that was tucked behind Zoe’s Kitchen in SoHo Square. Foy said people used to call all the time because they could not find the store.
“We would say [to customers], ‘Right behind Zoe’s,’” Foy said. “An hour or so later, they would show up and come in. And they would go, ‘I go to Zoe’s every week. I never knew you guys were here.’”
The new building also doubles Wallace-Burke’s square footage. Since the store is launching a new website in September and hopes to expand its shipping across the country, its new location features a shipping area.
“We’ve been able now to have a real shipping department, where before it was my desk, which was my jeweler’s bench, which was also my watch bench all in one,” Foy said.
This extra space also means there is room to expand their giftware selection. Foy said Wallace-Burke will have small antiques, rare collectibles and “unusual, unique” gifts for every price range. A larger selection of men’s gifts, such as shaving sets, will also debut in the fall.
“Our giftware is unique,” Foy said. “We want people to understand, if you want to find a perfect gift for someone, the first place to go is Wallace-Burke.”
The owners want both men and women to feel at home shopping at the new Wallace-Burke. Foy said that their renovations included darker tones, a bar and a television to watch sports so that men could be at ease in the jewelry store.
“We want this frou-frou store to be a little bit manly. We want men to feel comfortable here,” Foy said.
Foy emphasized that Wallace-Burke is still the same store. While the inventory might be larger, customers will still get the same quality products and will be greeted by the same faces.
“The most important part of the product that we sell is not the pretty jewelry, not the pretty things,” Foy said. “The most important part of our product is us. We have to be genuine.”
Visit Wallace-Burke’s new location at 1811 29th Ave. S. For more, call 874-1044.
