The Diamond Reserve, a custom jewelry and loose diamond retailer based in Denver’s North Cherry Creek neighborhood, is opening its second appointment-only office location—in downtown Denver.

Diamond Reserve owner and president Kaeleigh Testwuide acquired the business in 2015 when it was a marketing company that generated ads for jewelers. Seeing an opening to fulfill consumer orders directly, Testwuide launched DR Capital, the buy, sell, and trade diamond company behind the Diamond Reserve. Soon after, she opened the business’s first “store”—an appointment-only office in swanky North Cherry Creek that specializes in loose diamonds with GIA grading reports and custom engagement rings.

“We’re that upstairs operation,” she notes. “People feel like they’ve found some secret place, and they like that.” Walk into either location and you won’t find cases filled with diamonds and jewels. There’s a desk and chairs, but the retailer and her staff duck into the back to gather product for customers from the vault.

“I try to keep my overhead as low as possible, and this way I can have a larger inventory of diamonds and be super competitive with online dealers,” the retailer explains. “I’ve thought about getting a case, but no one ever buys out of the case, so I’m like, ‘Why?’ I don’t feel the need to have cases at all.”

Testwuide’s success with that model in Cherry Creek fueled her confidence to open the new, roughly 250-square-foot space at 1400 16th St. in Denver’s historic 16th Street Mall. The outdoor retail district has more than 250 stores, including approximately six traditional jewelry stores that fan out over a mile. It’s hard to imagine a more a competitive environment for a new jeweler.

But tenacious Testwuide recalls thinking, “If we can do this well, we need to go compete in the downtown market.” And a sit-down, one-on-one environment is enticing and comfortable for many modern—and upscale—gem and jewelry shoppers. “People think that’s really cool when you come out from the back with fabulous jewelry,” she says. “And you don’t want to give people too many choices—that confuses them.”

Bolstering the Diamond Reserve’s special-feeling shopping experience is Testwuide’s marketing prowess. The marketer-turned-retailer invests in Google ads and subcontracts an SEO expert, a web developer, an ad designer, and someone to run her pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. “We’re heavy into digital marketing,” she notes.

In her appointment-only offices, the focus is on diamond education. “We teach clients not just about the Four Cs—we really try to help our clients protect themselves in their purchase,” she says. “And I think there’s a demand for that downtown.”

Photo: Rings custom-made in Colorado by the Diamond Reserve (photos courtesy of the Diamond Reserve)

Emili Vesilind

JCK Senior Editor