D. Geller & Son Expands to Sandy Springs
By David R. Cohen | david@atljewishtimes.com
For more than 75 years, D. Geller & Son has been a fixture in the Atlanta jewelry market.
The first location opened off Broad Street in downtown Atlanta in 1939. The jewelry store moved outside the Perimeter in 1976, and now it has added to locations in Smyrna and Kennesaw with a store in the heart of Sandy Springs.
“In my mind, Sandy Springs is the future of metro Atlanta,” owner Mike Geller said. “It’s a great location, 10 minutes from Buckhead, 15 from Midtown, and to the east and west there’s a huge area we can serve. Sandy Springs itself is fantastic. I’m an Atlanta native, and the lead-up to Sandy Springs becoming a city was a big deal. It has flourished since then.”
Sandy Springs was incorporated in December 2005. The development of a city center project along Roswell Road has spurred retail, housing and business growth in the area. Geller, a member of Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs, hopes that the growth of the city will coincide with the growth of his new store. “I see this store as the next giant step,” he said. “I wanted to go to the next level, so here we are.”
The company had searched for several years for a suitable location to complement the stores at 840 Ernest Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw and 2453 Cobb Parkway in Smyrna. Geller said he chose Sandy Springs for the community feel and its proximity to customers. The store opened March 30 in the Hammond Springs Shopping Center at the intersection of Hammond Drive and Roswell Road.
“The response so far been great,” marketing director Heather Klisures said. “So many people have seen our billboard on Roswell Road, which has been up for a couple months now. We have existing customers that this location is closer to, and they are really excited. It’s been an overwhelmingly positive response from the community.”
The Jewish role in the diamond trade goes back hundreds of years, and Geller comes from a family with 14 generations in the industry.
His father, Dan, founded D. Geller after moving to Atlanta from New York, where he worked beside his father in a jewelry factory. Dan’s father came to the United States from Odessa in Russia. The D. Geller founder died in 1974.
The diamond business has changed since 1939, but Geller said he believes in doing things the old way.
“I know the younger generation loves the Internet,” he said. “But I think this is too emotional of a pur-chase to just see it on the screen, go click and hand it to someone you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. You really need to see it, feel it and touch it. It means so much more to us. Our people just love doing this.”
comments