Karats Jewelers Plans Expansion Into 30,000-Square-Foot Store
The Kansas retailer is aiming for a fall 2023 opening.

The retailer is set to move into a new store that will grow it from its current 5,500 square feet to 30,000 square feet.
Owner Akshay Anand opened the business in 2005, drawing on his family’s experience—he is the sixth generation to be in jewelry.
The store has weathered a major recession and a pandemic since it opened its doors. Now, Anand is ready to grow the business even more.
Located at 12260 Blue Valley Parkway in Kansas City, just five miles from the current Karats Jewelers location, the new store will be designed to provide a better customer experience, Anand told National Jeweler.
Karats’ core business is bridal jewelry, and Anand wants the new Karats to “create an engagement ring experience for the next generation.” Looking beyond millennials, he envisions the new store as a space that matches how the younger generations shop, building trust to sustain the retailer in the future.
“We’re not just looking for the sale but how to capture the market because as they grow, our business will grow.”
Here’s one example of how Karats plans to capture the market: the retailer will hire a full-time sushi chef from Japan and offer a sushi bar to its customers.
It will also partner with local businesses for events.
Anand added that the new store will offer “environments” for various product categories throughout, like mini shop-in-shops. As a person passionate about the environment and the ecosystem, he also plans on incorporating plenty of trees and flowers into the new store’s design.
Though Karats already carries more than 20 watch brands, the expansion will also bring a greater focus to the watch division, partnering with new brands to offer watches at all price points.
They will also revamp their website and build an app for the store to create a full “hands-on” experience.
The land on which the future store will sit has already been purchased, and the city has approved the plans.
Anand said he anticipates breaking ground in July, with the goal of opening the new Karats Jewelers in fall 2023.
The Latest

The industry veterans join the podcast to discuss diamond marketing, the FTC Jewelry Guides, and lobbying for lower tariffs.

Founder Vik Westermann said the app is a “starting point” to inspire people to work with appraisers and gem labs, not replace them.

The Verdura brooch, which belonged to the late Virginia Fortune Ryan Ogilvy, was sold to a private collector in Asia.

Submit your pieces for a chance to win in this year's competition.

The five students were awarded a total of $10,000 through the nonprofit’s 2026 “Future of Jewelry Making” scholarship.


Steven Lerche is now beginning his term as the youngest member to become president of The Plumb Club’s elected executive committee.

Murphy will retire at the end of the year and Alexander, currently the company’s president, will take over at the start of 2027.

Retailers are seeking new ways to attract customers, increase traffic, and create revenue – Estate buying events are a popular solution.

The jeweler is encouraging customers who own lookalike rings to come into the store and trade them for credit towards an authentic piece.

The new campaign, “You Are The Occasion,” discourages shoppers from saving their fine jewelry for special occasions only.

Mehta led India’s GJEPC through the 2008 financial crisis and was respected worldwide for his wisdom, integrity, and knowledge.

One is the driver who allegedly crashed a car into a Sacramento jewelry store in April, striking a 71-year-old employee who later died.

In a new column, Peter Smith posits that people actually enjoy putting together IKEA furniture, and the same is true for engagement rings.

9lakha Jewelers in Iselin, New Jersey, was the target of a smash-and-grab robbery on Aug. 8.

The jeweler has partnered with 818 Tequila to gift lab-grown diamond studs to a bride-to-be and their bridal party.

The exhibition will feature more than 100 drawings of stained-glass lampshades, windows, and more, many created by women and émigrés.

Marquise-cut diamonds in drop charms are the center of the new collection, reflecting the movement of a dancer in modular styles.

The inaugural Fort Lauderdale Jewelry, Antique, & Object Show will be held from Jan. 28 through Feb. 1, 2027.

Amanda Ileana Hernandez is married to Carlos Hernandez, one of two men in prison for the 2024 murder of Michigan jeweler Hussein Murray.

The reimagined jewel, our Piece of the Week, trades the diamonds in the original 1998 design for blue, pink, yellow, and green sapphires.

Sponsored by American Gem Trade Association

In the United States, second-quarter sales were flat amid soft consumer sentiment and lower in-store traffic.

The 22-karat gold egg, sold at Batemans Auctioneers in the U.K., was part of a 1980s treasure hunt ad campaign for Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Lucara Diamond Corp., which recovered the “Motswedi” diamond from the Karowe mine, sold the stone for an undisclosed amount.

The expanded collections now feature hand-cut gemstones like topaz, tanzanite, chrysoprase, chalcedony, smoky quartz, and fire opal.

The lab-grown diamond jewelry brand’s newest boutique is in Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara, California.

The gemstone supplier and manufacturer acquired the remarkable 104-gram Zambian emerald at Gemfields’ auction in May.
























