Claude Moore Jeweler Treats Customers with Respect

The Business View – December 2017/January 2018 / Small Business of the Month

Claude Moore IV’s great-grandfather believed in providing quality products for a fair price. His grandfather’s business credo was: “Every man that walks through the door treated like a gentleman, and every woman that walks through the door treated like a lady.”

The business that they built, Claude Moore Jeweler, still operates under those ideals today after 95 years in operation

in Mobile.

“We strive for both quality of our products and quality customer service,” said Moore IV, who represents the fourth generation of Moores to operate the store. “When you’re dealing with a nicer gift, sometimes people may have a budget but they don’t know exactly what they want, so we do our best to make them feel at ease, make them feel comfortable, kind of make them feel at home as best we can. I think that’s helped us over the years.”

Claude Moore Jeweler is the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Month.

The business was established in 1922 by Claude Moore, who was trained in diamond-setting and hand engraving and opened up shop in the First National Bank building after returning home from World War I. Since then, the business has grown and changed locations, operating today with 16 employees at 3700 Dauphin Street, where it offers a full line of fine jewelry, watches and gifts and also provides appraisals, repairs and engraving services.

“Having been in business for 95 years, we feel like there’s a certain level of trust amongst the community that comes with being in business for that long,” Moore IV said.

Claude Moore Jeweler also offers a full bridal registry, a service that has grown since its inception, blossoming under the guidance of Moore IV’s mother after she joined the family and the business in the late 1970s.

“I think that’s one of the things that kind of sets us apart,” Moore IV said. “We probably have the largest bridal selection in town for an independent store like ours, especially a locally owned one.”

Moore IV and his business are active in charitable and civic causes, particularly the American Heart Association and Ronald McDonald House. He and his family were guests at a Ronald McDonald House in Atlanta 10 years ago when his daughter, Grace, was born with a congenital heart defect.

“She actually had to have a heart transplant when she was 19 days old,” he said. “So we actually had to live in Atlanta for about 3½ months after she was born. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. When you’re displaced for that long, it was an amazing place to stay, it had a great support system.”

The future brings new challenges and new opportunities for Claude Moore Jeweler. As the store adjusts to meet the needs of a younger generation, Moore IV hopes to open new locations.

“We’re hoping long-term to open some smaller, maybe not full-service, locations but just more of kind of satellite stores,” he said. “We have a lot of people who work downtown, people who can’t necessarily get out this way like they used to. Our goal, rather than having one really large store, is to hopefully have a west Mobile location, a downtown location – something to maybe not offer the full bridal registry services but our more popular gifts and jewelry items, just to make it easier and more convenient, to give them a taste of what we do.”

Click here to read The Business View – December 2017/January 2018

Additional information is on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at www.mobilechamber.com, on Facebook at @MobileChamber and Twitter at @MobileChamber.