Generations of Jewelers at Carole's Corner

The jewelry business runs in Carole Singer's blood. Since she was a young girl, the owner of on Fort Salonga Road has ventured into the city to help her father run his bustling downtown trade shop.

Decades later, those trips have turned to weekly searches for the perfect pearl, earring backs, or the latest designer item to supply her own store.

"I work very hard in trying to find different things," she said. "I'm not the Pandora person. I'm the person who wants to buy things that you don't see anywhere else.”

Carole's Corner carries everything from high end precious jewelry to more affordable unique pieces. Among the most popular items right now are sliced sapphires. "It's rough but fine at the same time, and the colors are very nice," said Carole, adding that yellow gold is making a comeback. "It's very big and people are resistant to it."

A part of her weekly routine in the city is to visit her father's trade shop, where she has all her repair and design work done. The shop is now run by what were once her father's apprentices. Sadly, he didn't live to see Carole open her own store 15 years ago, though in more than one way, he remains at the heart of her business.

"I built the whole store around his bench," said Carole of the blond wood desk, corners smoothed with age, in the back room of her Northport shop. An old picture of him at work in his Manhattan trade shop is pinned to the top corner next to tools and hand written notes. The removable wood "bench pin" that he worked on is pocked with holes from painstakingly detailed work.

Brooches were Carole's father's favorite pieces to work on. Often, on the train home from work, he would sketch brooch designs that he one day hoped to create, such as a ruby and diamond pearl clasp. The drawings now hang framed in the showroom of her store. "I hope to make one of these one day," Carole said wistfully.

The store has been more to Carole than just a place to buy and sell jewelry. Just a year ago, her husband passed away and her customers, many of them now close friends, comforted her through her grieving. The uncommonly strong and personal relationships Carole has with her customers are both what makes her unique and keeps her store afloat. She has fostered bonds with three generations of customers, learning what they like and finding the unfindable.

"Today you need a little back for your earring, but tomorrow you might be getting engaged," she laughed warmly.

Carole's background in social work is just as evident in her business as is her familiarity and dedication to her customers. Often times, she serves as counselor and confidante to the women who come into the store--whether it's advice on what to do with an engagement ring after a divorce or how to divide jewelry after a death.

"I get a lot of support from my customers and I try to give it back as well," she said. "The whole idea is to make people feel better."