Guide
The Jewelers Exchange in San Diego: An Insider’s Guide
By Andrew GonzalezGIA Applied Jewelry Professional6 min readUpdated
The Jewelers Exchange in San Diego is at 861 Sixth Avenue, on the corner of Sixth and E in the Gaslamp Quarter, and it is the building where San Diego's jewelers buy and sell from each other: diamond dealers, manufacturers, setters, engravers, and repair shops stacked floor after floor. Prices there are generally better than a mall store because there are fewer layers between you and the source, but the vendors vary widely and nobody is going to hold your hand. I have spent my working life in and around that building and my family has done business there for decades. Here is how to use it well, which is advice that teaches you to comparison-shop me, and I am fine with that.
What the building actually is
The Exchange sits in a downtown building that has been there for more than a century. Inside is the wholesale world stacked vertically: manufacturers, wholesalers, diamond dealers, setters, engravers, and repair shops, floor after floor. Some doors sell to the public, some only to other jewelers, and there is no map that tells you which is which.
It is where jewelers go when they need something done. That is the part worth understanding. A fair amount of what sits in retail cases around the county passed through a building like this one first, at a fraction of what it eventually sold for.
How to shop a wholesale building
It rewards a different approach than a mall store. Nobody is going to perform for you, which people find either off-putting or refreshing depending on what they walked in wanting. Go on a weekday, when the building is actually working, and bring specifics rather than a vague idea.
- Ask who actually does the work. Some doors are makers and some are resellers. Both are legitimate; you should know which you are talking to.
- Get numbers in writing. Anyone serious will put a quote on paper without any theater about it.
- Compare across floors. The building makes that easy, and nobody honest is afraid of it.
- Bring a photo or a spec rather than a vague idea. This business runs on specifics.
- Ask to see the grading report and check the number on it against the stone.
What to watch out for
Cheaper is not automatically better, and a wholesale address does not make every quote inside honest. The same traps exist here as anywhere: a stone sold off its paperwork without you ever seeing it next to another one, an appraisal written far above the price to make the deal feel like a steal, or a quote that is only low because the setting is lighter than the one you compared it to.
The defence is the same everywhere too. Get the specifications in writing, see the stone in person, and compare two quotes on genuinely identical terms. The most expensive mistakes are the ones that look like savings.
Where I fit
Most of my business is wholesale, buying and selling diamonds and gold, and the custom work sits on top of that. It is the reason I hold no retail inventory and have no particular stone I need you to buy. The wholesale side is the business. Your ring is the craft.
We meet by appointment. Text a photo of what you like to (619) 279-7738 and we will set a time. If you would rather walk the building first and compare, do that; I would rather you arrive knowing what things cost.
