MarBill’s grand reopening continues through Saturday

By SARAH PELLIS

Bill and Linda Horrell, along with Kylie and Mike Horrell, pose at the new location of MarBill Diamonds and Jewelry at 1049 Broad Ave. in Belle Vernon. Jenn Codeluppi / Mon Valley Independent

The business recently moved to Broad Avenue in Belle Vernon, near where it was founded 60 years ago.

spellis@yourmvi.com

MarBill Diamonds and Jewelry is celebrating its grand reopening at a new location as well as 60 years of doing business in the Mon Valley.

The celebration at the new 1049 Broad Ave., Belle Vernon location began Thursday and will continue from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The original opening was June 8.

Owner/operators Bill and Linda Horrell, along with their son Michael, his wife Kylie Horrell and other staff members greeted customers Thursday morning.

Bill is the second-generation owner who grew up in the business. He was 10 years old when his father, Bill Sr., started the business, and said he’s glad they brought the business back to Broad Avenue where it originally was 60 years ago.

“The other cool thing is we started in a building on Broad Avenue at the other end of the street actually,” said Kylie Horrell, who runs the business’ social media. “So it’s kind of full circle for us and my husband’s grandfather started it 60 years ago. We started off as a catalog showroom and then we just evolved into being just a jewelry store, so it’s third-generation right now. My husband owns the business along with his parents still, but it’s the third generation of the company here.”

Linda, a graduate gemologist who earned a degree from the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad, Calif., said the grand opening celebration is featuring several vendors, $6,000 in giveaways, food, drinks and a storewide sale of up to 60% off all weekend.

“Everything in the store is on sale,” Linda said. “Big sale, the whole store, lots of door prizes. Everybody has a chance to win something. It’s basically a big celebration and really thanking our customers for being so loyal for the past 60 years.”

Linda said they decided to move from the shopping plaza in Rostraver Township where they had been renting space for 18 years for the opportunity to grow and expand on their own property on Broad Avenue.

“I loved it there. I helped design it and everything,” Linda said. “A lot of people have asked us why we moved, and it’s a legitimate thing because we were in a good location before, but actually, our customers seem to love the exclusivity of the location. They love private parking, and it works out much better. It’s easier to get to.”

Kylie is excited for the business to be a part of the events in the bustling Broad Avenue shopping district and to be a part of the other small businesses on the street.

“So now we have the freedom, not that we couldn’t do whatever over there, but like I said, this is our property now,” Kylie said. “So it’s going to be exciting to be able to be a part of those events now, and everybody on this strip is small business, and that’s what makes the world go round is the small businesses supporting each other and being there for each other.”

Kylie emphasized that the event is a joint celebration.

“We are celebrating a couple things,” she said. “One, our grand opening of the new space, and we have been open, but this is our official big event and party. Also we are celebrating 60 years in business. So that really is the bigger accomplishment. So we’re basically combining those two. So this will be our forever home. We own this building, we’ll be here forever.”

From Scratch Uniontown was at the shop Thursday with drinks and baked goods as well as POSH ink and beauty of Latrobe doing tiny tattoos in the store’s conference room. Today will include Nepa Valley Bloom & Brew Co. with drinks, smoothies and sandwiches and as well as Opal Haze Boutique LLC with a customized trucker hat bar. Saturday will feature Happy Bean Coffee Shop and Mama’s Top Shop selling accessories, tumblers and apparel.

While the jewelry room has its normal stock of jewelry, MarBill Diamonds and Jewelry brought in items from Citizen Watch at 25% off, Luxx Jewelers’ Vahan stackable bracelets at 30% off select pieces and latest collections, Inox men’s jewelry and a giveaway at $500 and Lashbrook men’s rings with a $1,000 custom men’s ring giveaway.

There were also money trees with gift cards and Le Vian ruby pendant for $1,100, according to Linda.

“We have a rep coming from Inox, and they are giving away a nice 22-inch necklace and matching bracelet,” Linda said. “We’re going to have a full men’s line there. Also, our Citizen rep is coming. All you have to do is come in and view the line. We have our diamonds in bridal all 20-40% off. We have a lot of new products, we have some new jewelry lines and they are going to love the brand new pieces that they’ve never seen before. We have a lot of big door prizes, too.”

Michael Horrell, who owns a portion of the company and is the head jeweler at Mar-Bill, said the shop will also start working on engraving jewelry and making custom pieces.

“We feel like we are back in the community now, unlike the shopping plaza,” Michael said. “We’re going to be doing some new things with lasering and engraving, which is really cool so it will kinda be a new chapter of what we can do here is being able to do a lot of customization that will set us apart. The shop already does set us apart. That’s always set us apart. We have, along with myself, two other jewelers here now, so that’s grown.”

Kylie added that the event is also to show their love, appreciation and support for the community, and the store has a bar where people can get coffee and pastries every day.

The store is also “Instagrammable,” according to Kylie, who said people can take pictures and tag the store on social media.

“We love our clients and they are like family to us because we are family owned business, and everybody that walks on our door is like family to us, and so we just want to celebrate with everybody, and we’re having tons of giveaways and food so it’s just a big celebration,” Kylie said. “So yeah, we’re excited to be here. I think the other important thing is we want to change the narrative in a way that we just want you to come hang out with us. We want people to come and just feel like they’re at home.”

Bernie and Rose Koliscak of Rostraver, who attended the event Thursday, said they have been loyal Mar-Bill customers for 54 years.

“We were old catalog shoppers. We used to do the catalog,” Bernie said. “Because we are loyal customers that is why they went to the event. We grew up with Bill, and his kids played soccer with my kids and everything. The event is fantastic. We’re almost back to home because the original store was down there.”

Kylie is looking forward to the newer events and the already stable ones the store holds to bring the community together. She hopes to bring in younger people and generations and for MarBill to be the go-to place for jewelry in the area.

Linda is excited to see all the people this weekend who come out to the event.

“We love our customers and I love to throw a great party,” she said. “We all love to have fun, and it’s a lot of fun for us to be there and to do this, and just the fact that we’re there and we are able to thank everybody for their loyalty, it’s great. We have a lot of big door prizes, so just to come out and to see people. That’s what we look forward to.”