Get to Know Us: Alx&Co.
Have we met? Alexandria Stylebook is all about personal connection, and it occurred to me — there is a good chance that a number of you fabulous readers have never visited our shop, and therefore have no idea of the story behind our little studio. So, I thought I would do a little introduction to who we are and how we work. I hope we get to meet in person soon!
The first thing to know about Alx&Co. is that it is truly a labor of love. My husband Tim Shaheen and I run it together with a small team of talented individuals whose professionalism and commitment make our business sing.
While it certainly isn't easy to work with your spouse every single day (in addition to the normal stressors of having a small child at home), in the end we consider ourselves lucky to be able to do this for a living.
Though looking back at this Stylebook article we wrote in 2019: Would You Work With Your Spouse? 10 Ways We Make It Work, I’m feeling a bit sheepish because I don't think we follow any of these very smart tips anymore. The year 2020 really threw us out of whack, and maybe I should get back to taking my own advice!
Alx&Co. is a "mom & pop" shop to its core, which means we truly care about our work and the professionalism we exhibit. When we decided to move to a by-appointment model it was a nod towards this goal: prioritizing providing an impeccable client experience over trying to get the most people through our door. We enjoy taking on complicated projects and get satisfaction from our work when we know our pieces are deeply meaningful rather than transactional.
We also enjoy providing a level of service unparalleled by our competitors. Our clients know that they can trust our expert opinion to be fair and thoughtful, and we feel confident suggesting other resources when we know we aren't the right fit. We design our own collections and create unique pieces every single day: truly, we are unlike any other jeweler in our area.
Tim and I have a young son at Lyles-Crouch, and we live here in Old Town with our perfect yellow lab named Bill. We have a small townhouse that we are slowly renovating out of its rather neglected state. And when we aren't trying to decipher 100-year-old shotty wiring or working, we are at our cabin near Shenandoah National Forest. Our cabin is small and very special to us, since it allows us to truly take our minds off of the stressors of running a small business: a needed venture, because despite the glamour and the beauty of what we do, in the end it's still a small business in 2023 and if you haven't heard – it's really, really hard to own and operate a small business!
Like any retail shop, we face sharp competition from big retailers and online markets. The expectations of perfection and customer service that clients demand from a small business like ours are so much greater than what they expect from Blue Nile or even Tiffany & Co. We regularly work 12-hour days, five days a week, plus a few hours on a sixth day to just get things in order for the week. Each piece we make is infused with this work ethic.
If you haven't visited us, keep an eye out for our upcoming After Hours events that we'll be hosting in the fall. Or, if you have a project in mind, reach out! We look forward to meeting you soon.
