She’s moved. And, she’s loving it. Joyce Hembrough-Webb of Duncan & Hoots Jewelry is enjoying her new business address just off of the downtown square at 209 W. State. “I am more comfortable here. It’s home. It’s a better feel,” attests Hembrough. She feels very welcomed, noting that businesses and people in the downtown have been “just so gracious,” stopping in to say hello or waving as they walked by on their lunch hour. “That’s very sweet. They’ve been very supportive,” Hembrough amiably added.
Hembrough has been in the jewelry business since she was a little girl, and as a customer of hers declared, “When a business has been around as long as Duncan and Hoots has, well, there is a reason for it.” So, she’s settling in and enjoying her classic sign on the building facade that welcomes you to her doors. She is there – day in and day out – to be the face of her store. She especially wants to impress on people that, “you walk in the door and it’s Joyce who is going to wait on you. Jewelry is a personal thing.” Her new store exemplifies a personable and local business that people seem not to forget; Hembrough maintains that her best advertisement is her customers, with whom her relationship is “enjoyable” – and she likes that.
As a local business owner, Hembrough knows firsthand the importance of supporting local business. When it came to arranging the details of work that needed completion in order to polish her new store location, she testifies that, “honest to God, hundred times over truth, everything that I didn’t do myself and every product that was bought…everything I did was from Jacksonville-owned businesses,” she said. “It’s important to realize that the resources that we need to get things done are right around us. We have to believe in that.” She praised the work of the local businesses that worked on finalizing her new location. Plus, Hembrough adds, “It’s a full circle. They all come back and become customers.”
Supporting local seemed a consistent topic for Hembrough – and also her appreciation she has for her customers. “They’re finding me!” she says. They call and come search out her new location, in a quest for her jewelry in every price range and, well, for Joyce. “I was born to do retail. It’s what I love. I like my store. I like what I do. I love what I do,” grins Hembrough. “I could be doing a whole lot worse than trying on jewelry and playing and enjoying people all day.”
