[EXCLUSIVE] Blue Nile Bringing its Diamonds to Buckhead

Seattle-based Blue Nile intends to enter the Atlanta market with a jewelry store at Lenox Square in Buckhead.  The new Blue Nile will open on the mall's upper level where it will replace the 1,900 square foot store that previously housed Godiva and is currently home to a pop-up of Eleven TLC.  A permit recent filed with the City of Atlanta indicates the jeweler will spend an estimated $320,000 renovating the space.  

The company, which got its start as an online retailer in 1995 and was renamed Blue Nile in 1999, started opening brick and mortar showrooms in 2015, beginning at Roosevelt Field on Long Island in New York.  Today there are a total of seventeen showrooms spread across fourteen states, with California, the only market with more than one store, with four showrooms.  This past fall, the company revealed plans to open 50 showrooms over the next three years.  The “massive brick-and-mortar expansion” will target the top 50 markets, the company said in a press release. 

Blue Nile is most known for their diamond engagement and wedding rings but also offers other jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces and earnings made with diamonds, gemstones, pearls and precious metals.  The company also offers a collection of birthstone offerings.  

The company went public in 2004 but was taken private by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street LLC in 2017 in a deal valued at nearly $500 million.  

Have you ever purchased anything from Blue Nile?  Where do you do the majority of your jewelry shopping?  What other retailers would you like to see open in Lenox Square?

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