What Makes Padis Jewelry Different: 50 Years Longevity of Team Members and Customers
50 years of business. 41 years of marriage. 4 kids. 8 grandkids. 35,000+ couples. Voted the top jeweler in the San Francisco Bay Area. These are some big stats, but regardless of how big Padis Jewelry has become, above all, it’s a family business – and that family atmosphere extends to employees and customers.
In fact, customers who bought jewelry from Padis Jewelry back in the beginning of the business in the 70s and 80s have sent their children and now grandchildren to Padis Jewelry to buy jewelry for all the special moments in their lives like births, graduations, weddings and anniversaries. And those aren’t the only long-standing relationships Padis Jewelry has cultivated over the last 50 years. In fact, there are many team members who’ve worked with Padis for 20, 30 and 40+ years.
Laurel, was employee No. 1, and is celebrating her 40th Christmas this year working as a jewelry advisor. Valerie celebrates 28 years with Padis and joined the business after she was a client and originally bought her first piece of jewelry from Vic, who himself joined the team 32 years ago and has worked with Padis Jewelry as a jewelry advisor for 28 years. And the list goes on...
So, what does Padis Jewelry do differently than most jewelry businesses to create an atmosphere that makes customers and employees so loyal? Read on for the philosophies that Padis Jewelry lives by.
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Build strong relationships. Life’s all about relationships, and we believe in building those relationships based on respect. It’s important for us to show how we respect our customers by running a business built on integrity and value. It’s important to show our team members respect by treating them as family. For example, when an employee’s child or parent they care for is ill, we let them know that’s the priority over work because that’s how we would want to be treated if we were in the same position. Or when COVID hit, we paid our employees out of our personal savings even when everything was shut down. It’s also important for us to show our consideration for the environment and countries where we purchase our diamonds. That’s why we’re committed to only buying and selling conflict-free diamonds, meaning they’re socially and environmentally responsibly sourced.
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Give back to diamond-producing communities. We’ve visited many of the communities where the diamonds we purchase for Padis Jewelry are mined and cut and believe it’s important to have a role in giving back to these communities, particularly Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Our philosophy is to only create ethically sourced jewelry that helps empower and uplift communities in these diamond-producing countries through fair wages, safe working conditions and opportunities for economic growth and development. We’ve also taken part in donations of dialysis machines to support local hospitals and numerous endeavors to fund local schools.
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Give back to the San Francisco Bay Area and Napa communities. The business started on Telegraph Avenue at UC Berkeley, so we feel it’s important to give back to our San Francisco community through sponsorships and donations to schools, hospitals and special events. One of our favorite projects was for former San Francisco Giants superstar Willie Mays, who died earlier this year. He was a client of ours for many years and was also Barry Bonds's godfather. He came to us when Bonds was going to tie his record for third on the all-time home run list with his 660th career home run. He brought us one of the Olympic torches and we encrusted it with 25 diamonds set in solid gold to represent Bonds’ jersey number.
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Give back to the jewelry community. We believe it’s important to take the time to give back to the jewelry industry, so we have two key employees who are on two of the top jewelry association boards in the world. Alexis Padis is president of the American Gem Society, sits on the executive committee of the Jewelers for Children foundation, and Steve Padis is on the executive board of the Jewelers of America.
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Give back to the church community. We are very active in the Greek Orthodox church, including Steve serving as an Archon. He has designed iconic pieces of gold and diamond jewelry and donated them to the archdiocese as well as a statue of the Golden Gate Bridge encrusted with diamonds that the archdiocese and mayor of San Francisco Art Agnos. presented as a gift to the Pope.
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Give back to the cancer-fundraising community. We support many cancer research nonprofits, including the V Foundation, founded by former North Carolina State Head Basketball Coach Jim Valvano before he died of brain cancer. The foundation donates every penny raised to cancer research, and ESPN matches donations. Padis Jewelry has donated a 4-carat heart shaped diamond and a 10-carat fancy yellow diamond, which was the most lucrative auction item the foundation has ever had donated.
Ring in 50 Years with Us
- We’re celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Padis Jewelry and want to show the San Francisco Bay Area our appreciation with a series of special events this season. Check out what
- and let us know if we’ll see you there!