How One Texas Retailer Built Her Dream Store from the Ground Up

Jeweler Amber Gustafson rolled her safes across a parking lot to open her new store last year in Katy, Texas. There were no movers – just her team carrying boxes between buildings as time allowed, wheeling the heavy stuff across the asphalt from the leased bank building next door into the new freestanding flagship she had spent years imagining. It was a fitting move for Gustafson, who built her business the same way: carefully, resourcefully, and often with her own hands. 

For years, Gustafson, who specializes in custom design, operated Amber’s Designs Fine Jewelry out of that bank building, renovating and expanding it herself as the business evolved. But after several expansions, there was nowhere left to grow. Five years ago, she bought the lot next door with a bigger vision in mind: a stand-alone building designed from the ground up around the way she works. 

It was a long way from where she started. 

At 19, Gustafson apprenticed as a bench jeweler; by 2001, she had her own workshop and retail store, establishing a reputation through custom design, repair work and bench craftsmanship.  

Building her own store began to seem feasible three years ago when her daughter, Melissa Nelson, returned to the business. After 17 years at Zadok Jewelers in Houston, Nelson joined Amber’s as vice president, with responsibilities encompassing everything from operations and gemology to sales and buying. Gustafson’s granddaughter, 20, now works in customer service.  

“I wanted to build something worth inheriting,” Gustafson says. “I can leave a legacy for my family.” 

Labor of love  

Nelson credits her mother with sparking her own interest in the jewelry business. “After graduating high school and working with my mom, I didn’t know I wanted to be in jewelry,” Nelson says. “I told her, ‘I don’t want to get my fingers dirty.’ She threw a pamphlet at me and said, ‘Here, look into gemology.’”  

Nelson enrolled at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) at 20 and graduated feeling like a queen, she says. “That education gives you the confidence to say, ‘I’m here. I have the credentials. I know what I’m talking about.’” 

Nelson’s years at Zadok gave her broad exposure to every aspect of store operations. “I wanted to implement what I knew and help my mom grow the business. It was just time.” 

By then, Gustafson was ready to build. What she didn’t anticipate was how much infrastructure would stand between a sketch on a notepad and a certificate of occupancy. 

The two-year construction process became a gauntlet of compounding surprises: a mapped 6-inch water main that turned out to be 2 inches, forcing the city to run an entirely new line; a sewer too small for commercial use; and an electricity shortfall that required her to supply and install her own pole. 

Moving up  

The elevator became its own saga. Nelson insisted that the two-story building needed one – for catering events, moving furniture and equipment, giving customers access to the appraiser’s upstairs office, and most importantly, ensuring her mother’s future comfort.  

“She fought me tooth and nail on the elevator,” Nelson recalls. “I told her, this is your life. You will probably be here to the end, so I am not carrying you up and down the stairs.” 

Nelson won that test of wills. “After the elevator got put in, Mom was thrilled and taking selfies with it,” she says. “It made my heart happy, honestly. It gave her a sense of knowing that I want her there.” 

But before the elevator selfies, the subcontractor that Gustafson’s general contractor had hired took a $45,000 deposit and disappeared without ordering the elevator. Gustafson tracked down a new company, personally fronted the money and got the project back on schedule. 

The building itself reflects Gustafson’s highly specific vision. She worked through two sets of architects, firing the first for failing to listen to what she wanted. The architect who ultimately bro=ught the building to life was one of her customers, designing the structure from Gustafson’s own sketch. Years of imagining her ideal workspace shaped every detail: customer flow, staff workflow, repair intake and shop operations. 

Nelson focused on the showcase layout. While Gustafson would have happily filled much of the store with her Tucson-acquired oversize geode collection, Nelson pushed for a cleaner, more open floor plan. “I didn’t want to take up all the space right away, because if we had a new idea, we’d have to squeeze something in or take something out,” she says. “I wanted to leave room to evolve.” 

Design on display 

The ground floor includes a large showroom, two glass-enclosed consultation rooms Gustafson calls her “diamond salons,” a glass-walled bench jeweler showcase visible from the sales floor, and a hospitality bar stocked with water, soda and wine. Upstairs are a casting room, a polishing room, a computer-aided design (CAD) room, and a dedicated lunchroom with a large refrigerator and a wall-mounted TV. 

Transparency is built into the architecture. Live camera feeds project a bench jeweler’s hands onto a large screen downstairs. The CAD designer upstairs is also piped into a display below. “I had customers stand there for 30 minutes watching their item being made,” Gustafson says. “They were mesmerized.”  

The new location has also allowed for significant equipment upgrades: a laser machine, engraving machines, and microscopes. And for the first time, Gustafson has something else she’s long wanted: her own jeweler’s bench in her private office.  

The store launch coincided with a rebranding. The full-service business has simplified its name to Amber’s Jewelers, and added jewelry and watch brands such as A.Jaffe, Capolavoro, Charriol, and Norqain to the collection along with Gabriel & Co., Fana, and Benchmark. 

 “It really is great working alongside my mom,” Nelson says. “It’s a beautiful relationship that we have evolved. We can butt heads, but that happens in any family business. She did it from the ground up, starting from nothing. It’s truly an amazing life journey.” 

Main image: Amber Gustafson in front of her Texas store. (Amber’s Jewelers)