TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Gold's Allure Draws Jeweler Back Into Business

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: May 26, 2008

SPRING HILL - Dan Short shines and sparkles everywhere he goes.

He sports gold on his wrists, cuffs, fingers - even across his tie.

He makes jewelry. He engraves it. He fixes it. As of this month, he's begun selling it again inside a store.

"I don't think you ever lose your love for fine jewelry," Short said.

His love affair with gold, diamonds and platinum pulled him out of an 11-year hiatus from the industry. He originally intended to retire from jewelry sales. He opted for a life selling recreational vehicles in Tampa, but it wasn't the same.

Short remarried two years ago. Denise Short fanned the flame for her spouse to return to his original line of work. Last week, Unique Gold & Diamonds held its grand opening.

"What woman doesn't love jewelry?" she said when asked why she wanted to take the business plunge. "I have a husband with 30 years experience. Why not open a jewelry store?"

The newlyweds were dabbling in the wholesale sector for a while, but it wasn't enough to quell their thirst for handling and selling jewelry everyday.

Secondly, too many former customers were stopping Dan Short on the street requesting his services. They remembered him from when he owned six local stores decades earlier.

Short once owned and managed two stores in Spring Hill, one in Brooksville and others in Bartow, Lake Wales and Brandon.

"My wife and I would go to Wal-Mart or Publix and people would come up to us," he said. "They'd say, 'Nobody's touched my jewelry but you in the last 25 years.' I'd tell them, 'Hey, I'm retired.' They'd go, 'Take your time with it.'"

The jewelry was a logical choice for the always-dapper-looking salesman. He was never a T-shirt and shorts person. He always had more of an Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox's character on the 1980s TV sitcom "Family Ties") approach to dress. He wore slacks, a button-downed shirt and a tie everywhere he went. French cufflinks also were the norm.

"I didn't own a pair of jeans until I was in my 50s," he said. "I wouldn't go uptown to the grocery store without a shirt and tie on."

He sells 14-carat gold and 18-carat platinum at his store, which is located at the corner of Mariner Boulevard and County Line Road.

The location was something his wife had discovered a year ago. She inquired about the location then, but the property had already been rented. Coincidentally, it was occupied by a retired police officer who opened a jewelry store.

When he left the business, he sold it to Short and his wife. They soon nestled into the store space they had desired all along.

Jewelry stores are spread across the county. Kay Jewelers recently opened along Cortez Boulevard in the Coastal Way retail center. That didn't deter Denise Short.

"We have more custom pieces," she said. "I have pieces you can't shop for anywhere else."

"Stores like that will send something to Timbuktu to get it fixed," Dan Short said as he meticulously disassembled a customer's watch. "You don't know who's working on it."

Short hopes to attract old customers from years past as well as new. He doesn't expect the 11-year break and lagging economy to hurt him.

"We have the advantage in the respect we do our own work," he said. "I don't have to pay anyone to do it. We have such a big following still."

Biz at a glance:

Name of biz - Unique Gold & Diamonds

Owners - Dan and Denise Short

Where it is - 134 Mariner Blvd., Spring Hill

What it is - Jewelry store

Get in touch - 813-624-2202

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT