The Devan’s Diamonds team, left to right: artist Slav Tretiakov; owner/designer Mike Caruso; staff Kristina Taddei. Jaclyn Savage is also a staff member.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
Devan’s Diamonds relocates to city’s Downtown
Slav Tretaikov is a skilled craftsman manufacturing all of Devan’s Diamonds jewelry store’s custom-made jewelry.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
The skilled hands of jewelry craftsman Slav Tretaikov as he hand-etches into a gold ring to be completed with a diamond and garnet. Tretaikov works under a microscope to complete handmade jewelry.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
A gold ring piece handcrafted by artist Slav Treiakov at Devan’s Diamonds, 77, S. Main St., Pittston.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
The head of Jesus Christ was handmade with extreme detail at Devan’s Diamonds, a jewelry store that specializes in handcrafted jewelry and all other jewelry needs for men and women.
Tony Callaio | For Sunday Dispatch
PITTSTON — Devan’s Diamonds jewelry store has been a fixture on Main Street for five years, and owner Mike Caruso can’t think of a better place to do business. In fact, to get even further entrenched on Main Street, he moved his business to Pittston epicenter, across the street from the Tomato Festival lot.
In recent weeks, Devan’s Diamonds has moved into the former Merle Norman Cosmetics retail store at 77 S. Main St., when the cosmetic store relocated to the Waterfront Warehouse next to The Banks Waterfront venue.
Devan’s Diamonds specializes in men’s and women’s jewelry, gold chains, custom-made jewelry, jewelry repair, ring sizing, chair repair, stone tightening and watch battery replacement.
Even though 29-year-old Caruso admits a great deal of his business is online sales, with his products shipping all over the world, he would like to cater to the people right in his backyard, hence the move down the street to his current location.
“I think it’s going to help out locally to get more exposure for the store,” Caruso said. “But the other reason we moved is the layout of the store. We do ship so much jewelry, but we make so much jewelry, so we really needed the space that accommodates us a little better for that.”
At the previous location, he had two floors, and now everything is on the same floor.
Caruso believes his success has a lot to do with his in-house jewelry artist Slav Tretiakov, who brings his years of experience and talent to making unique, one-of-a-kind jewelry to his customers.
Caruso can’t say enough about the talent of Tretiakov as he showed a gold ring garnished with a garnet and diamond stone Tretiakov manufactured by hand.
“This is an example of the kind of pieces we make, Caruso said. “It’s all by hand. We do some crazy work, you know?”
Caruso has been designing pieces of jewelry for a decade, designing much of it on a computer CAD system and then making a 3D model of the piece. Tretiakov then takes Caruso’s design and model to make what Caruso describes as spectacular jewelry.
Also on staff is two assistants/sales staff, Kristina Taddei and Jaclyn Savage, who are experienced and capable of taking care of customer’s jewelry questions and needs.
Prior to opening his own jewelry store, he worked for many years in the jewelry business for Zales at the Wyoming Valley Mall.
And for the name Devan, she was a real person who is Caruso’s inspiration in naming the business.
“Devan taught me a lot about the jewelry business in my early stages,” Caruso revealed. “She was a very good friend to me who changed my life to put it on a better trajectory from where I was really going.”
Unfortunately, Caruso said, Devan died in a freak accident.
Since Devan’s Diamonds has only been in the new location for a few weeks, there is much to do with the showroom. Caruso said he has plans for some high-tech screens, furniture, paint, lighting and possibly some artwork to coincide with the city’s theme.
He is waiting for the hanging sign outside the building as well as signage for the front windows.
As for his former retail store location, “I’m opening a sneak store there. Yeah, I didn’t … give up the place or anything, so I’m going to put in a sneaker store in the future.”
Caruso said he’s very pleased with Downtown Pittston and looks forward to the progression of Main St. with the seven-story project and theatre to be built less than 100 yards away from his storefront at Market and Main Streets.
For information on Devan’s Diamonds, visit devansdiamondco.com, email info@devansdiamondsco.com, call 570-900-5882 or stop by during showroom hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday.
